Rise of The Empire- Act I
by ChrisDonati
Summary: A mysterious force, known as the 'Imperial Army' launch invasions of several planets within the Galactic Republic, with the sole aim of taking control of the galaxy. Two recon pilots and best friends, nicknamed E and K, are thrust into the war as the Imperials inch ever closer to their goal. Along the way, their lives will be changed forever...
1. The Empire

_The Empire_

"Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad's office, Galactic Senate, Coruscant. 15/07/5227, 14:30 Galactic Standard Time. This transmission is intended for the galaxy in which I serve."

"Gentlemen, I have brought together the Galactic Senate today because I have some important news, news that will affect all of us. In the last few weeks, a force, who call themselves the Imperial Army, have begun invading planets in the outer rim. So far they have control of Vectra, Sykar, Sian and Rheagant. Attempts have been made to try and negotiate a peaceful solution to stop the invasions, but their leader, a man known to us as Emperor Palpatine, has so far held base, and refused every opportunity to stop the assaults. Indeed gentlemen, as we speak right now, the Imperial Army have launched invasions on the planets of Hoth, Tatooine, Geonosis and Bespin. I need not remind you how important these planets are for they form an integral part of our trade routes, and we, as a Republic, owe their people a service not to let them fall to this tyrant. People of the Senate, people of Coruscant, people of the galaxy in which we live, after lengthy consultation with the Vice Chancellor and the Jedi council, I can confirm to you that the Galactic Republic is at war with the Imperial Army."

Dantooine could be a lonely place sometimes, but for Recon pilots Eksilo Destron-DeVictoria and Kissel Overiero-MacStreska, that was rarely the case, because it was almost impossible that they wouldn't constantly be by each other's side. Having met at a training academy for the Galactic Republic's Space program, they instantly hit it off after realising they were the only 2 representatives from Dantooine. Their extraordinarily long names led to them referring to each other as E and K, and the two of them, throughout the course, had more fun than anybody would think possible for people training in the galaxy's most prestigious academy. After 5 years of training, they both qualified as Recon pilots- and since then, have never undertaken an assignment without the other in tow. Their main job was to scout trade ships with dodgy credentials, visit planets on busy trade routes to make sure nothing was going to break out, to be the first to scout areas of potential conflict. The job took them to more planets than they had ever seen before: Mon Calamari, Naa Shaddaa, Aalderan and Corellia to name a few. However, throughout the years, they had never been involved in conflict. That was all about to change.

"E, you gotta come take a look at this." Shouted K towards the kitchen, where E was making yet another sandwich. The two of them were in their Coruscant apartment where they stayed between assignments.  
"What's happened now? Has Ekstraad made his speech?"  
"Yeah. Mate, it's not good news."  
This caused E to actually appear from the kitchen. In front of them was a telecast, where Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad, leader of the Galactic Republic, had just declared war on the Imperial Empire.  
"Wow" Said E, stunned.  
"I know, this is crazy. The last time there was a major war was over 200 years ago when the Jedi supposedly wiped out the Sith."  
"K…. You know what this could mean?"  
K knew exactly what it could mean, and it was something he dreaded. "They can't make us, surely?"  
"We're at war, of course they can. When we signed up for this, we knew that there was a chance we might have to get involved in conflict."  
"We're recon pilots, not fighter pilots."  
"I know, let's just wait for command to tell us what to do. Thinking about it isn't going to make it any better."  
Then, as if on cue, their personal radios crackled into life:  
"Pilots, this is command. All personnel are to rendezvous at East Coruscant Space Port within the hour. This is not a drill."

"Emperor Palpatine, I bring news."  
Palpatine merely looked at him, an invitation to continue.  
"The Republic, Chancellor Ekstraad, have declared war on our Empire."  
"That was to be expected." Said Plapatine, a deep whisper against the continuous hum of the Mammoth Star Destroyer they were aboard. "Stage one of the plan is now complete."  
"What do we do now?"  
"We wait, Dooku. We wait for them to make their first retaliation. They won't be used to this, they'll make mistakes. That is when we strike."  
"Are we safe here."  
"Don't worry about the ship, the Republic could never find us here." The Emperor relaxed, took in a deep breath. "I have waited years for the perfect opportunity to strike, now it is finally happening. I shall rule this galaxy, one way or another." He looked at Dooku, "Commence stage two of the plan."

The East Coruscant Space Port was a vast space, occupying over 6 square kilometres of land. It served as the main hub of Coruscant's military action, from missile strikes to fully planned battle launchings. There were 5 space ports in Coruscant: East, West, Polar, Central and Equatorial, but it was the east port that dealt with all things military. The army there was massive, the greatest men, women and other sentient beings the Republic could find. For E and K, it was always a daunting place to go. Right now they were in the launch bay, being prepared to have a talk by their commanding officer. K especially was finding the whole thing uncomfortable, but even E had to admit the prospect of what the Commander might say was making him shifty- nobody wanted to go to war. There was a whistle, and the commanding officer signalled for everyone to give him their attention. There were about 200 people in the hangar.  
"People, by now you will have all heard the speech given by Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad this afternoon. Our Republic is at war with a new, and frighteningly powerful enemy, one we do not know much about. What we do know is this- Their forces, numbering close to the thousands, have launched invasions on 4 planets: Hoth, Bespin, Tatooine and Geonosis. Hoth, Bespin and Geonosis are Republic controlled planets, so they will be our priority. As Tatooine is neutral, it is up to them to fight their own battles for now. I know some of you will not be used to fighting like this, will not be used to combat at all, but this is a war, and if we are going to win this then we're going to need every man we can get. You will be split into three teams, one for each Republic controlled planet. Let's get to it people!"

E and K were in their section of the hangar. Being the only two recon pilots to work with Gold team, they got their own section of the hangar to keep their XT-84 Stealth fighters, as well as being able to keep themselves to themselves. The two found out early on in their friendship that they both found it difficult getting along with people in the outside world, K more so than E, and so the hangar had become a sacred place for them, where they could talk about everything without any fear or limitations.  
"This is bad" Said K, starting to stress over the situation.  
"I know" Concurred E, "I don't know what we can do. You heard the Commander, every man is needed. We're powerless."  
It was at this point their Commanding officer, Commander Chol- the only other person who E and K felt comfortable speaking with, entered the hangar.  
"Guys" He began, "I know this is going to be difficult for you. If there was any other way then I would change it, but there isn't. I know you guys have never entered combat before, but you graduated from that academy for a reason, because you are two of the best recon pilots this army has. That's why I've decided that you two are going to go to Bespin first, to scout out the Imperial destroyers, let us know what we're up against."  
"We'll still have to get invoved in the battle though, won't we?" Asked E.  
"Yes, you will" Said Chol, "We need everyone we can get, especially when we find a weakness, so that we can end this quickly. Sooner this war is over, the better."  
"When do we leave?" Asked K.  
"We leave in 10 minutes- Well, at least you do, but it won't be so bad, you'll have me to keep you company."  
"You're coming to Bespin?"  
"I am, every man we can get remember? Even if that includes me. Besides, given a choice of Bespin, Hoth- where it averages below zero- and Geonosis, which is full of Seperatist factions anyway, I'd go for Bespin any day."

E and K spent most of their journey to Bespin in silence. Suddenly, this was become all too real for them. When they reached Bespin, it wasn't looking good. 3 Star Destroyers were spaced out- dull, menacing craft that were bigger than anything they had seen before. Fighters, hundreds of them, surrounded the destroyers and landing craft were entering the planet's atmosphere at will. What was once a vibrant, orange planet was now swarming with shades of black as the invasion army began their assault.

"Let's take a scope around the area, see if there are any more of them" Said E over the radio.  
"I was worried you were going to say that."  
E then got on the radio again, this time to command, where the two pilots had both been given codenames- E was 'Gold Scout' and K was 'Gold Recon', not that either of them wanted to use the codenames. They preferred their own abbreviations much better.  
"Command, this is Gold Scout. Identify what looks like 3 destroyers; Numerous fighters and landing craft. I think they're starting the invasion."  
"Roger that Gold Scout, we're just preparing to launch ourselves right now" Came the familiar voice of Commander Chol. "How many fighters are we going to be facing?"  
"I don't know. I've honestly never seen a group of fighters this big before."  
"For want of a better word," Chimed K over the other radio, "They have one hell of an army."  
"I get the picture" Sighed Chol. "I guess we're going to have to make do with what we've got."  
"Hang on; I think I've spotted a weakness!" Said K, rather excitedly, "I've just had another look at their destroyers- only the central one is releasing landing craft. If we take that out, maybe we can stop the invasion?"  
"That's going to be our best option. You two wait there until the other units arrive, then we'll take them out together."

The wait seemed to take forever. They both knew that Coruscant to Bespin was a long trip, but it seemed to take a lifetime before they spotted the first of the Republic fighters. The only positive for them whilst they waited was that none of the landing craft actually seemed to be able to land- most of them were being shot out of the sky by the anti-spacecraft lasers coming from the planet's surface, but some of them were also coming back up for a second attempt. They didn't have long though; the numerous fighters swarming around the Destroyers were gradually weakening Bespin's defences. They couldn't hold out forever.  
"E?" Came K over the radio, "Take a look at this a second will you?" E's display suddenly lit up. A Bespin satellite, which K had hacked into, was showing E a top view of the Imperial fleet. They had only seen the Destroyers front on- going above or beside them would have made them detectable-and they had assumed them to be all the same size. They were wrong. The middle Destroyer, which was sending out landing craft, was at least 3 times as big as the ones each side of it.  
"That's a big ship." Said E in amazement.  
"I know, which means it's going to be a lot harder to take out" Responded K, trying to calculate what they would do next.

Once the first of the Republic fighters arrived, it didn't take the Imperial army long to realise they had company. Whole sections of Imperial fighters broke off from the main Destroyers and headed straight for the oncoming group. E and K just sat where they were- they didn't know what they could do in battle- and started giving out instructions to the Republic fighters.  
"Commander Chol" Said E, "There are two groups of Imperials coming up to your right. I'd say about 10 of them in total."  
"They're coming from the left too!" Shouted K over the radio, "Much more of them on this side, I could 22, no, 23…. My god….."  
"Split the group!" Yelled Chol over the radio to his squad, which was about 10 big. They did exactly that, and the Imperial fighters followed, but it was clear to E and K that the Republic was horribly outnumbered. They could only sit and watch as fighter after fighter was shot down.  
"Blue team, Red team, Green team, assistance need in sector 12" Said a desperate Commander Chol, and soon more Republic fighter had joined in. It was now a fair fight, and the Imperials were getting pushed back.  
"More Imperial fighter coming from the Destroyers" Said E, who was finding the battle difficult to handle. "They don't stand a chance."  
"We've got to do something." Said K, "We can't just sit here and watch them all get killed."  
"But what? What can we actually do?"  
"We do what we do best. We scout. The Imperial fighters are so busy trying to hold back Chol and his teams that there are hardly any fighters that are protecting the Destroyers, especially not the central one."  
They agreed on it there and then, and set off towards the central Imperial Destroyer. They knew they would be picked up by the Imperials, but when they did, nothing seemed to happen. No fighters tried to intercept them.  
"What's going on?" Said E, "Surely they would have done something by now?" That was when they realised why the Imperials hadn't bothered with Fighters- the Destroyers themselves had massive auto-cannons, and they were a lot deadlier than a few fighters would be. The two pilots realised this almost too late, as the first barrage of plasma shells almost came raining down on them, but for their quick reaction skills. Suddenly, E and K were split up- a torrent of shells had gone straight through the middle of them both, scorching E's wing and forcing them to separate. E headed straight for the main Destroyer, unaware of what was happening to K.

"I have news from the invasions, Emperor."  
"I know" Said the Emperor, not even bothering to look at Dooku.  
"It seems we have started to encounter Republic resistance, the planets are not falling as easily as we anticipated."  
"As **you** anticipated, Dooku. The Republic are not fools, this was to be expected. The plan shall still continue as it has been for the past few weeks."  
"Even without the Republic fighters, we're still facing resistance from the planet surfaces."  
"You have much to learn. We attacked these planets for a reason. We needed to gain the Republic's attention. Sometimes it can be a good thing to lose a battle."  
Dooku faded away into the shadows. So far the Emperor had been correct about everything, but there was something about the guy that unnerved him. Something about him wasn't right, but Dooku couldn't put a finger on what it was that made him so…. Creepy. He didn't want know what would happen if something went wrong.

K was in the middle of a skirmish, and he didn't know how he was going to get out. After being separated from E, he had been chased down by Imperial fighters, and now found himself having to dodge laser fire whilst he tried to figure out where he was. More fire, from the right, caused him to dive, narrowly missing an Imperial fighter that exploded above his head seconds later. Another Imperial fighter was badly damaged, but heading straight for him. K had never had to use the lasers on his stealth craft before, but in that moment he knew he would have to. He pushed down hard on the trigger, and two pulses of blue light disappeared into the distance, and obliterated the damaged Imperial fighter.

E had spotted K, caught in the middle of the battle. He knew he had to keep going though, because he was past the plasma cannon defences. The undercarriage of the Imperial Destroyer was as bland as the top was, but there was one big difference. A massive pipeline ran down the middle of the Destroyer's undercarriage, and E instantly knew that it was a fuel line. It was the main fuel line. It was heavily protected; he would need K here as well if they were going to destroy it.  
"K! K god dammit answer your radio." Shouted E, even though he could see K was busy shaking off yet another Imperial fighter. "I know you can hear me, so just listen. Turn around. If you turn around then you're facing the Destroyers, and I've found a weakness, but I need you here too."  
"What's the weakness?" Came a voice over the radio. It wasn't K though, it was Commander Chol.  
"The ship's main fuel line runs all the way underneath the craft. It's protected, but with two of us we can break down those defences."  
"Well I'm not going to be much use to you; we've been forced too far wide by the other Imperial fighters. If we're careful, we might be able to take out the two end Destroyers, but it's going to be up to you and K to take down the main one."  
It was at this point that E heard an almighty bang as a plasma shell exploded right above him. K was dancing his way through the ship's defences, just as E had done before. He had done it though; K was through.

"I heard what you said over the radio. This is the fuel line then?" K had joined up with E, and the two were sat underneath the Central Destroyer, shielded from the outside battle.  
"How do you think we should take it out?"  
"Well, look over there-" E gestured towards the centre of the ship, "-There's a join in the fuel line where it splits in two. I reckon that's its weakest point. That's where we attack."  
"What are we waiting for then? Let's get to it!"

They started to scale the Destroyer. It was longer than any ship they'd ever seen before, and they had no idea where the fuel line join actually was.  
"I can't see it, this ship is far too big." Said K over the radio.  
"It's there, I can see it." Replied E, "Follow me."  
Soon K caught a sight of the join aswell. Despite being the weakest part of the fuel line, it was still heavily protected. As soon as they got within range, they stared firing, but most of the laser pulses harmlessly deflected off the deflector shield; E even had to swerve to avoid one of his blasts coming back at him.  
"Nothing's happening!" Yelled K, "If we carry on much longer we'll fly straight past the join."  
"I know. Just keep going, something has to give sooner or later."  
So that's what they did, and eventually they started to break through the fuel line. By the time they were underneath the join, the line was virtually ruined.  
"One. More. Blast." Panted K, as he pressed down hard on his trigger button once more. The blue pulses illuminated the space infront of him, then they hit the join, right in the centre, obliterating what was left of the defences. The pipe burst open, and the volatile fuel exploded in a giant fireball, which started to engulf the entire Destroyer. 

Now E and K had a new problem. The shockwave was travelling incredibly quickly. The two pilots were flying as fast as they could to escape the fireball, heading all the way to the front of the destroyer. They passed a couple of confused Imperial fighters along the way, but the shockwave was still getting closer.  
"Come on, almost there….." Said E, straining under concentration.  
"Just that little bit further" Concurred K. They reached the edge of the ship just as the fireball caught up with them, shooting out as the entire Star Destroyer went up, before falling towards the planet below, breaking up into thousands of pieces in the process. E and K started screaming over the radio in ecstasy, but they soon turned silent- something else was coming over the radio. Crackling, interference like, was invading the pilot's cockpits, and they didn't need to think much to realise what it was. Commander Chol's fighter, damaged to the point of no repair, flew straight over their heads. Ecstasy suddenly turned to despair as they watched their commanding officer, and mentor, fly helplessly towards the end Imperial Destroyer. Whilst Chol may not have had control of his craft, he was heading in the right direction- straight towards the ship's core reactor. Whilst the main ship had a visible fuel system, the smaller ones had vulnerable reactor cores, something which the pilots had initially failed to recognise. E couldn't help but watch as Chol hit the reactor right at its centre, whereas K couldn't bring himself to even open his eyes.

What happened next was incredible. As Chol's fighter hit the reactor core, it sent a surge of energy straight into the jet engines at the back of the Destroyer, propelling it forward with enormous force. Although the ship had its brakes on, it couldn't stop itself from flying out of control, the extra energy forcing it sideways towards the other Destroyer ahead. There was a moment of complete silence, then the two Destroyers collided in a mass of screeching metal, bending and buckling with every passing second. The reactor core of the first ship, overloaded, detonated in a massive flash, the shockwave ripping the Destroyer in half. The second ship's engines were all but obliterated, and both Destroyers followed the first craft in heading towards the surface of Bespin, breaking up even more along the way.  
"What do we do now?" Asked K.  
"We head for the surface" Replied E, "I think that's just about all we can do."

They landed on the surface as quickly as they possibly could. Nobody spoke a word as they walked out onto the platform, both of them still in shock about Chol's death. Just as they entered the refuelling station, K saw someone he recognised. Evo Del-KoSette had been K's next door neighbour as he was growing up on Dantooine. A pilot like them both, he had been one of the main reasons K had wanted to become a pilot in the first place.  
"Mac!" He yelled out across the station. "Oh my god, it's been such a long time."  
"I really wish you wouldn't call me Mac" Said K, who then proceeded to introduce Evo to E.  
"Hey," Said Evo, "You guys may think K and E are cool nicknames, but I think Mac suits you much better. Anyway, how are you two holding up. I heard you were in the centre of the battle we've just had."  
"Well, we blew up an Imperial Star Destroyer on our first ever conflict, so that's something. We lost our commanding officer though…." K trailed off, not wanting to speak about it anymore.  
"Commander Chol. I knew him well. He's the reason I'm out here on Bespin. I manned one of the laser cannons that were shooting the landing craft out of the sky."  
"Did any of the craft successfully land?" Asked E.  
"No, not that I'm aware of. You guys did well taking out all of those Imperial craft, we're the only planet to survive the invasion. Geonosis, Hoth, Tatooine, all fell under Imperial control. This is going to be a long war-"  
They all stopped. They heard gunfire, cannon fire as well, coming from outside.  
"I thought you said no craft had landed?"  
"I'm sure none of them had!"  
They all ran outside. Infront of them, an array of armoured tanks were taking up their positions, ready to strike.  
"I know what they are" Said K, "They're certainly not Imperial."  
"Then what the hell are they?" Demanded E.  
"They're droids. It's an army of battle droids."


	2. Third Power

_Third Power_

"Is stage 2 of the plan complete?"  
"It is, my lord."  
"Good. I trust stage 3 is taking place as we speak?"  
"Yes, the droid army has entered the war. We did well in persuading them to get involved, even if they didn't know it."  
"They needed to see a weakness in the Republic, Dooku. We merely gave them the evidence they needed. Now we just need them to distract the Republic enough so that we can make our strike."  
Dooku just stood there, not sure how he should start his next line. The Emperor hadn't even turned around to face him during the conversation. It made him uncomfortable.  
"You have something to say Dooku" Said the Emperor, "Say it."  
"I'm afraid our invasion attempts haven't been entirely successful. The planet of Bespin is still controlled by the Republic." Dooku felt anxious saying it, but it didn't seem to bother the Emperor at all. Infact, Dooku sensed that The Emperor was happy with the development.  
"You may go now Dooku. I will call you when we make our next strike."  
"Very well my master."

"How the hell did you know about the battle droids?" Asked E, as he paced up and down the room. K was sat on his bed, watching E pace uselessly.  
"I saw it on the news a couple of months ago." Said K, "There was a small droid incursion on Geonosis of all planets. But I remembered the tank design from the broadcast, that's how I knew."  
"I guess they've decided that now is as good a time as any to join a war."  
"Now what do we do?"  
"We wait for our orders I guess. We wait and see what they put us into this time."  
"It won't be the same, not hearing Commander Chol's voice give the commands," Said K, his mood darkening.  
"I know, but this is war. I guess we're just going to have to get used to losing people around us."  
K stared at E, blank. E stared back at him.  
"I know what you're thinking." E said, "And no, I'm not planning on dying on you any time soon. It'll take something bigger than a war to tear us two apart."  
With that, K stared out of the window, looking over the many high-rise buildings and landing platforms that made up much of what Coruscant was today. They had both escaped Bespin and returned to Coruscant- the ground forces had more than enough firepower to halt the droid's ground invasion. It made them both nervous, however; There was no telling what the droid army could mean for the war. One tyrannical Empire is bad enough, but an army of droids just makes things worse. 'If only it could be simple' thought K, and continued to let his mind drift.

 _The Malevolence_ floated silently through space, brushing aside any asteroids that dared enter its path. The creator- the man who made the ship- grimaced silently. It had taken a year to build, a year in which he had watched many developments take place in the galaxy. He'd watched his people die, destroyed so slowly, and he could only stand there, helpless, as his planet was torn to shreds. The Republic had done nothing, nothing at all to stop the massacre, more worried about their own political agenda than anybody else's. He hated them, he hated them so much that he was going to make them pay for their ignorance. The Malevolence had been a completely secret project, one that the Republic could know nothing about. Geonosis, with its Separatist co-control, was the perfect planet to build the ship, the biggest anyone had ever seen. It could all have gone so wrong, when the Republic almost found the hangar. He was ready though. Battle droids, a whole army of them just waiting to be tested, fought off the troops. He had to make it look like an independent group, so not to draw suspicion. The news casts had made it sound as if he lost, as he had lost all of the droids, but nobody had found the hangar. It was a success to him, and now he could finally put his plan into action. The Imperial invasion of Geonosis had offered the perfect opportunity to blast The Malevolence into space undetected, and had proved to him that the Republic was weak, that he could win. He couldn't let the Imperials win either- no, everyone had to suffer, suffer as he had, as the very people he loved were turned to ashes infront of his very eyes. As his ship drifted towards the Republic command post of Kamino, General Grievous knew exactly what he had to do next. This was going to be his greatest hour, and nobody could possibly stop him now.

E's radio crackled into life. A new voice, one he didn't recognise, came over it- he was still coming to terms with the loss of Commander Chol;  
"All units, this is Space Brigadier Stark. Rendezvous at East Coruscant Space Port, 15 minutes. You will receive further orders once you have arrived. This is not a drill."  
'Space Brigadier, that was certainly something different' thought E. He didn't like it, the fact they'd brought in the big guys meant that this was something really, really serious, and serious in this case almost certainly meant dangerous.  
"Oi K!" He shouted, "We've got orders, get down here now."  
"Hey, I'm in the shower!"  
"So? Use a fan or something to dry yourself off, we've only got 15 minutes."  
With that, K almost spent no time in getting ready, although he did make E laugh when he came downstairs.  
"You know," Said E, "I'm really tempted to start calling you Mac."  
"You do that, and I'll break your neck."

Space Brigadier Stark was one of the veterans of the Republic's army. 50 years of service, from Alderaan to Malastare and everywhere inbetween, there were very few planets Stark hadn't visited on his tours of duty. He knew the Republic inside and out, and was one of their biggest advocates, but even he knew how much trouble they were in.  
"This is about as big as it gets pilots" He began. "At 14:30 Galactic Standard time, an Imperial Star Destroyer entered the space above Kamino's atmosphere. As you all know, Kamino is one of the most important Republic controlled outposts in the entire galaxy, we cannot let it fall." Some people went to get up, believing Stark had finished, but he continued; "We had managed to hold off the Imperial Destroyer, but then something else happened, something we can't explain. Another ship, one bigger than anything we've ever seen, entered the radar, then everything went blank. We have nothing- no radar, no radio, we have no idea who that ship belongs to, or what the hell is happening at Kamino. It is going to be your job to find out what's happening. You're all trained in the art of Reconnaissance, and we need to know what's happening, and fast. Dismissed."

After Stark had finished his speech, he sought out E and K, who were back in their own personal hangar.  
"May I come in?" Stark asked, to which K replied with a nod of his head. "I was good friends with Commander Chol, he told me a lot about you, about how much potential you two have. I know what you did above Bespin, how you took out a Star Destroyer with nothing but your own initiative. That, my friends, takes skill, and I should know."  
"What do you want from us?" Asked E, unsure what to think of Stark.  
"I'm going to do something a little bit different. Sure, the other pilots are going to scout out the ship, and whatever the hell else is up there, and that's great, but when we actually send the fighters up there, it's going to be a completely different story."  
"Get to the point, Sir." Said E, who didn't like where this was going at all.  
"You're not going with the main group. I'm sending you on a Republic cruiser, one that will be a part of the assault. Your job will be to scout a path for the fighters, find the ship's weakest points. The outcome of the fight could depend on this."  
"That could be suicide!" Hissed K, "You expect us to scout a path whilst there's a massive death battle going on above us. That's going to be almost impossible."  
"Believe me" Said Stark, "If it could happen any other way then it would, but this is a war, normal rules of combat no longer apply. I'm sorry, this is just the way it has to be."  
"Won't it be difficult to keep different radio channels between us and the other recon pilots?" Asked E, which made Stark smile.  
"You won't be under my control. You'll be under the command of a Jedi, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. You take his word as you would mine. You'll be safe under his control."

The Malevolence drifted above Kamino's atmosphere, a bold presence in the middle of the battle taking place all around it. Numerous Imperial fighters had attempted to take down the craft's defences, but Grievous was ready for it. An EMP blast, a prototype to the battlefield, had fried any electronics the Imperials possessed, and their fighters quite literally fell out of the sky. Shocked, stunned, the Imperial Star Destroyer was left so very vulnerable to attack, and attack Grievous did. Hundreds of Vulture droids swarmed the ship, launching scathing attacks which all but rendered the ship useless. The Imperials were not stupid though, they had brought a second, and a third, Destroyer with them, and the battle continued. The Malevolence was strong though, too strong for the Imperials- he was still winning the fight, although there was a long way to go yet.  
Then there was the Republic- they still hadn't showed up. They would though, they would eventually show up, and then he would crush them, crush them like the scum they are. He mind started to burn as he thought back to the last pictures of his home planet burning as his escape capsule jetted away from the doomed rock. They had betrayed him, every last one of them. He would destroy the Republic, he would destroy the Empire, and he would stop at nothing before the very people who left him to die begged for mercy as he cut them down. Why stop there though? Why not make the entire galaxy pay for not stepping in- the Trade Federation, the Banking clan, they hadn't done anything either, they were as bad as the Republic they supposedly opposed. A battle droid approached Grievous, attempting to ask for orders, but in Grievous' silent rage he ignored the droid, and crushed it's head between his claws. He opened his eyes; An explosion somewhere in the distance had brought down the second Imperial Destroyer, meaning there was just one left. Everything was going to plan.

Count Dooku was sat in his chair, deep in thought. He may be stuck in a ship light years away from civilisation, but he could still sense what was happening above Kamino. They were losing, and they were losing badly. The Emperor had told him it was to be expected, that it was a part of the plan, but it made Dooku very uncomfortable. He wasn't used to losing, and he certainly didn't appreciate the Emperor's attitude towards defeat. The more and more he was with the Emperor, the crazier his ideas, his prophecies, seemed. There was no doubt he had an incredible knowledge of the force, but he seemed to place his faith more and more with fate than anything else. Dooku was under no illusion that the Emperor knew exactly what he was thinking about right now, how he felt about Palpatine's control. That was one of the things that unnerved Dooku the most; He never felt safe to think freely. The other thing that got him was the Emperor's habit of not facing him as they spoke. It was almost like a power grip- Dooku never felt he was able to be in control whilst the Emperor was facing the other way. Maybe that's exactly what the Emperor wanted.

E and K had never met a Jedi. Sure, everyone knew of the Jedi order, but hardly anybody got to meet one, and most who did had no idea they were actually meeting a Jedi. Obi-Wan Kenobi was onboard the Republic cruiser, _Infinity,_ addressing his Captain when E and K arrived.  
"You may leave us." Said Kenobi to his men, once he saw E and K. "You must be my two recon pilots?" He asked.  
"Yes. It's an honour to meet you" Blurted out E, before realising he wasn't intending to say it out loud.  
"The honour is mine." Returned Kenobi. "I heard about what you two did above Bespin, it's really quite impressive."  
"News travels fast." Said K, not quite as fazed as E, who had decided the best thing to do was keep his mouth shut.  
"Apparently so." The subject then swiftly turned back to the present, "I don't need to tell you that this is a vital mission. I'm not too interested in the regular Imperial Destroyers, what I want us to focus on is whatever took down our Radar system."  
"Is it Imperial?" Asked K, although he didn't believe It was himself.  
"Unlikely" Said Kenobi, "We got one picture of the Cruiser from a satellite before everything went down-" Obi-Wan brought up a holo-picture of The Malevolence for E and K to see "-And that to me doesn't look anything like the Imperial craft we've so far been witness too."  
"Droids?" Said E, half question, half statement, echoing the notion that K had thought of. Obi-Wan had thought of it too.  
"Potentially, although we have to keep an open mind at this point. Whatever it is, I want to get aboard that ship- it looks like a flagship, so, Imperial or not, I reckon somebody important is going to be aboard that ship."  
"Leader of the droid army." Said K, and Kenobi silently acknowledged it; He knew that the ship was the Droid flagship, he could feel it in the force. He wanted to make sure a third power didn't enter the war, especially if they turned onto the side of the Empire.  
"You want us to blast a path towards the Cruiser don't you?"  
"That's the idea, then I can get inside once the shields are down."  
E stood there for a second, thinking, then said "If this is the droid army, and the Imperials are already there too, won't they start ripping pieces out of each other whilst we're on our way to Kamino? What if there is no longer a droid flagship to assault when we get there?"  
"Well," Said Kenobi, "We won't find that out until we get there."

Kamino was already a war zone when they arrived. The scouts, sent to survey the area before the cruiser got there, had reported back that it was already a mess, with the Imperial Star Destroyers and 'The big ship' already blowing holes through each other, but by the time _Infinity_ got there it had become even worse. The last remaining Imperial ship was badly beaten, to the point where they had sent another as backup, but the droid ship was still in one piece, although it too had taken heavy damage.  
"The blaster shields are up." Said Kenobi's Captain, Volkov, "We're taking fire, but it's nothing we can't handle."  
"Thank you Captain. Set us a course so that we run parallel to the big ship, but don't get too close." Ordered Kenobi.  
"Yes Sir."  
Obi-Wan looked at E and K, "You two should probably get ready." He said, to which E and K agreed, but just as they headed for their ships, there was a noise, and a fighter, with 4 protruding arms and menacing red eyes, smashed straight into the shield, startling almost everyone on board.  
"Look K," Said E, "There's no pilot."  
"There doesn't need to be a pilot. The whole fighter is just one droid by itself." Replied K. A piece of the fighter passed right infront of them with just one word written on it: ' **VULTURE** '  
"Vulture droid." Whispered E.  
They all stopped. There was another noise. Then all of the blaster shields suddenly turned themselves off.  
"What the hell was that?" Shouted Volkov, but Obi-Wan already knew the answer;  
"It's another EMP blast. They know we're here."  
"What do you want me to do?" Asked Volkov.  
"Hang back for now, see if you can get the backup generators up and running. We need to-"  
"WATCH OUT!" Yelled one of the Republic soldiers, and Obi-Wan, E, K and Volkov had just enough time to see the Imperial landing craft smash through the Cruiser's front defences, and land hard inside the hangar. Everyone stood in awe as at least 30 Imperial troopers, all dressed in the same white, metallic body armour emerge from the craft, blasters in hand- The Stormtroopers had arrived. Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber immediately, much to the amusement of the Stormtroopers.  
"Give it up, Jedi." One of them called out. "You're completely surrounded, there's no point trying to resist."  
Obi-Wan looked at the Stormtrooper and smirked, "I wouldn't be so confident if I were you." The Stormtrooper, pissed off by Obi-Wan, opened fire, but Obi-Wan was equal to it, deflecting the blaster bolt back towards the trooper, where it hit him in the centre of his chest, and he collapsed in a heap. That set all of the troopers off, and they all opened fire towards Kenobi; E and K dived for cover behind a Republic fighter, Volkov got one square in the face.

The Republic troopers weren't stupid, and started to try and push back the Stormtroops. Eventually, it turned into a battle of nerves, with both sets of people hid behind their respective cover, the occasional shots being exchanged. E and K were still stuck behind their fighter in the middle of the hangar, having to shoot at any Stormtrooper who got a bit too adventurous.  
"We have to finish this." Yelled Obi-Wan, who was pinned down himself, and threw a Thermal Detonator to E, who quickly caught on to what Kenobi wanted. He looked around, and picked his target- the Imperial landing craft that had entered the Cruiser in the first place seemed his best bet. It landed perfectly underneath, and in a few seconds the entire hangar was lit up with a violent orange glow. It was the perfect distraction Obi-Wan needed- he quickly beheaded the 4 Stormtroopers pinning him down, and ran towards the other Stormtroopers that were taking cover. Most of the Stormtroopers assumed Obi-Wan was making a direct assault, and prepared themselves to attack, but t their surprise he veered off at the last moment and ran towards a small control panel. The panel had a nice, big button in the centre, with the word 'Evacuate' written on it, and When Obi-Wan pressed it, the entirety of the Cruiser's atmosphere and pressure controllers around the Stormtroopers' area turned off, and they were all thrust into space; Obi-Wan had to hold on tight to make sure he wasn't taken too, but eventually even the most stubborn Stormtrooper was gone.

Infinity had taken damage. It wasn't so severe that they couldn't continue, but they had taken a beating, whilst the EMP blast had knocked out the shields, from the circling Vulture droids, who themselves seemed immune from the blast. Obi-Wan, E and K were looking over Volkov, who, despite getting a blaster bolt to the face, was somehow still alive. He had, however, lost one of his eyes and the left side of his face where the bolt had hit was badly burned; He was unconscious too.  
"We need to get out there before anything else happens." Said Obi-Wan to E and K, who were still trying to let everything sink in. "If we get out there now, we may be able to bulldoze our way through."  
"That's dangerous" Said E, "If we head straight through the middle, we'll be sitting ducks."  
"What do you suggest then?"  
"We go round the side of the ship, hit them by surprise."  
"We can't do that E." Said K, and both E and Obi-Wan turned round to look at him. "I've been looking at the schematics for the droid ship. They have some sort of automatic radiation barrier protecting the ship from anything getting too close. The only place that radiation barrier isn't operational is the front shield, although I don't know why- it's not like droids can get radiation poisoning."  
"Where did you get the schematics from?" Asked Obi-Wan, confused.  
"He's a fantastic hacker." Replied E, which made K smile, "If there is something to hack, he can hack it."  
"Can you turn the radiation barrier off then?"  
"No" Replied K, bluntly. "It's encryption level is far beyond anything I'm capable of. The best I can do is access the schematics, and even that took some effort. We're by ourselves now."  
"In that case, we best get going."

They ended up in the thick of the action. There was no real way of avoiding it, but this was at least twice as many fighters in the space above Kamino than there had been above Bespin. The fact that they had to watch out for their own fighters as well as enemy ones particularly frightened E, who was leading the charge along with K, Obi-Wan and his 3 personal guard ships following behind. K had to quickly dodge a barrage of Imperial Plasma shells came his way, obliterating a stray Vulture droid behind him. It was utter chaos, and both E and K had to be careful not to lose each other in the madness.  
"3 fighters, heading your way!" Yelled Obi-Wan over his radio, trying to compensate for the intense noise in the surrounding space. E and K were immediately alert, and, as the 3 Imperial fighters came into view, both opened fire. The Fighters immediately sensed the danger and split, reforming behind the group.  
"Obi-Wan, we've got trouble." Said E, "The 3 fighters are on our tail. I can't shake them…."  
There was an almighty bang as the fighters exploded into pieces right behind them. The shockwave momentarily disoriented K, and he almost crashed into E, but pulled away right at the last moment. That was when the Imperial Destroyer came into view. It was massive, but completely out of action, floating aimlessly into space- it was floating straight towards them.  
"We've got to dive!" Yelled K, and they both did, but the Destroyer was pitching downwards itself- no matter how much they dived, it seemed inevitable that they were going to collide. They even started to pitch vertically downwards, but the Destroyer was so fast…..  
"Go up!" Said K, "Pull up now!"  
"Make your bloody mind up K" Replied E, although he wondered whether it was the right time to start playing games.  
"Just do it. Now!" K snapped, and they both pulled up, missing the nose of the Destroyer by mere inches. E breathed a sigh of relief, but it wasn't over yet;  
"Holy crap! The bridge!"  
The next bit seemed to go in slow motion. In their haste to pull out of their dive, both of them had forgotten about the ship's bridge, which they were now hurtling towards at an incredible speed. Out of nowhere, an uncontrollable Vulture droid, sporting just 3 arms, careered straight into the bridge, smashing out the windows. E and K's fighters only just fitted through the gap mad by the Vulture droid; E saw the bodies of Imperial officers being thrown about the blast. He was certain that he saw one that was still alive, hidden in the corner of the bridge, being sucked out into space as they emerged themselves. They both somehow got through the wrecked bridge alive, and for a moment there was silence. Then the silence was shattered. There was no better term E could use to describe it that a giant metal spider attached to his fighter, except this spider had more than just 8 legs- it had a saw, and was cutting into E's cockpit.  
"Oh my god, can I not get a break?" Shouted E sarcastically.  
K meanwhile had absolutely no idea what to do. He could only it there, frozen, as his best friend was assaulted by a giant metallic spider.  
"K, do something for god's sake." Came E over the radio, who was starting to panic.  
"Do some violent manouvers" Was the only thing K could think of to say, although he knew it was useless- E was already doing countless barrel rolls to try and shake the thing off, but it stayed where it was. Then K had an idea, an idea that stemmed from almost flying into E earlier. He positioned his fighter, waited for E to stop rolling, and launched himself sideways, smashing straight into the spider droid, breaking off 3 of its legs and thrusting it into space, where it seemed to stay still for a moment. That moment didn't last long enough- as quickly as it had been dislodged, it stuck one of its remaining legs into one of E's engines. The creature only hung there for a second, before the jet was ripped off, and it disappeared into the deep reaches of space. K was panicking now- E had passed out and his ship was badly damaged, and they were both heading straight towards the Malevolence. K closed his eyes, pictured the schematics. Yes, there was one hope left. One slim, slim chance of making it out alive. Well, at least for a few more minutes.

It was the one things K had remembered. He had to pull himself away from E, just for one moment. He hated being away from E, even though he knew this could end up saving them. He positioned his fighter, and fired towards the Malevolence, just wide of the hangars shield. At first he thought it hadn't worked, when he saw the blaster bolts disappear, but suddenly there was a great explosion, and the shields turned off- all of them- he had hit the control board with perfect accuracy. In his celebration, he almost forgot about E, who's fighter was now starting to fill with smoke. Quickly, K manoeuvred his craft under that of E's, and started to lift him upwards. It was hard work, but he knew he had to do it. He just had to get E's craft level, so that they could get inside the hangar; The only place they could land safely. He had no idea what would happen after that, he couldn't think straight. The Cruiser was approaching ever closer, and K got their fighters in position. Then he realised it- they were going far too fast. K slammed the reverse thrust, which catapulted E into the hangar, where he wiped out a stationary Vulture droid before slamming side on into the rear wall. K followed, but misjudged the landing, and smashed straight into the floor of the hangar, bouncing up into the ceiling where his fighter violently exploded into flames. He landed with a thud, and slid into a group of battle droids, crushing them before they eventually stopped his fighter. K took a look around, surveying the droid hangar as the temperature inside started to rapidly climb. As he looked back into space, he suddenly realised that this was likely going to be the place where he was going to die. He then looked back at the droids that he had crushed with his fighter, and promptly passed out…

 **TO BE CONTINUED**


	3. The General

The General

General Grievous was not happy. Two pilots, Republic pilots, had managed to breach The Malevolence's defences and make it into the hangar. Sure, they were unconscious and barely a threat, but it sent an example out that he could be beaten, and General Grievous did not want to be beaten. The droids, unsure of what to do, had dragged their bodies out of their fighters and into the medical bay. Grievous at first had been furious, demanding to know why two enemies had been brought on board the Cruiser, but then one of the droids had said something that changed his mind. The two pilots had been with a Jedi. Maybe, if Grievous kept them on board long enough, the Jedi might just try to get them back. Grievous smiled, he would have his revenge.

"Should I fire the Ion cannon?"  
"No Dooku" Said the Emperor, "Not yet. The Jedi is not aboard the ship."  
"Are you sure the Jedi will go aboard the Cruiser?"  
"Yes. The Republic would not have sent a Jedi if they were not going to board the ship. We just have to wait."  
"What should I tell Captain Sturn?"  
"Tell him to prepare the cannon, but not to fire until I say so!"  
"It will be done, my lord."  
The Ion cannon was the Empire's most powerful weapon, which could blow up any Cruiser that crossed it's path at will, without even the slightest of delays. It has a long range transceiver, which meant it could be built in the far reaches of the Outer Rim, away from anybody who might want to find it. Just one press of a button, and an entire battlefield could be changed in an instant. Soon the Empire was going to have a new, more powerful weapon, one that could obliterate whole planets. There were still a couple of years left until it would be built, however, so for now the Ion cannon had to make do.

E woke up in a haze. He felt disoriented, like when he'd spend too long in one of the downtown Coruscant bars with K and get hopelessly drunk. Maybe he was drunk; maybe the war had just been a dream- A really bad dream. He looked up, but the surroundings weren't familiar to him. There was a bright light from above blinding him, and he had a pounding headache. At least he could still feel his limbs, so he was definitely still alive. He tried to move, to get away from the light, but he couldn't- his body wouldn't respond. Suddenly E panicked, worried that he might have been paralysed, and thrashed about, but no matter how much he tried he simply couldn't move. He was tied up. The light was getting worse now, so E tried to do something, anything he could. He managed to crane his neck around to get his face out of the light- that was when he saw K, next to him, who was still unconscious. His arms and legs were clamped to a metal platform just like E. Now, out of the blinding light, E started to get his bearings. He was on a cruiser, one that he didn't recognise. Out of the corner of his eye he made out droid guards at the door, and one more pacing up and down the room they were being held in. "So much for this being a dream then" He muttered under his breath. "We must have made the cruiser after all."

Obi-Wan had watched E and K smash into the Malevolence from the edge of the battlefield. The 3 Imperial fighters had cut him off from his protectors, as well as E and K. It had been easy enough taking care of the fighters, but by the time he had finished with them he was on the very edge of the battle, looking down at the chaos going on below. That was when he had spotted E and K's fighters. You couldn't miss them, E's in a chromic black, K's in a vivid red, both inscribed with Tribal markings native to their Home planet of Dantooine. Obi-Wan had absolutely no idea what they meant, but he knew the pilots took a lot of care with their fighters. He wanted to get back into the battle and help E and K, but every time he tried he was cut off by another mini-battle taking place. He could only watch as they both narrowly missed flying into the Imperial Star Destroyer, before E got attacked by one of the may Spiders floating around in space. As soon as the two pilots crashed through _The Malevolence_ 's front shield, Obi-Wan knew that his was his best chance to get aboard the ship. More than that though, E and K were aboard that ship, and he was not about to let them die.

"When do you think they're actually going to do something with us?" Asked E, who was still bound to the metal platform inside The Malevolence's medical ward. The light had disappeared now, but he still didn't know why he was in here. K, who was awake now too, gave E a smile, and replied  
"Maybe they want to keep us for experiments?" but E was less than impressed.  
"I'm glad you find this funny." He said, although he was beginning to gain a smile himself too.  
"Come on man," Said K, "We both almost died, now we're stuck inside a massive droid ship, strapped to their operating tables."  
"Why do they even have operating tables?" Asked E, and then added "Why do they even have a medical bay in the first place? They're droids!"  
"Maybe they want to transfuse our blood for oil!" Spluttered K, and both him and E fell into a hysterical laughter. The situation was ridiculous, almost surreal. Just two weeks ago they had been scouting out a Trade ship over Nar Shaddaa for illegal Kronic implants, now they were on board the galaxy's biggest warship, being held in a medical bay full of droid soldiers whilst a three-way war waged on outside them. Before the war they had never fired a blaster (Outside of training), but just hours ago they were shooting down fighters to save their lives. E couldn't pinpoint it, but something about the ridiculous nature of what was happening had got to him and K. Before now, when they had first been put into action, and the week between when they were anxious about their next assignment, all the tension had been bottled up, neither wanting to let other people in to what they were feeling, as was their nature. Now, however, in the most hopeless situation, they let it all out. The manic laughing had alerted the guard droids, who before hadn't cared about E and K chatting away. The droids stood over them, but their simple programming meant they had absolutely no idea what to do next;  
"What now?" Asked the first droid, in his electronically auto-tuned voice.  
"Terminate?" Replied the second droid, to which the first droid had no answer.  
"Alert General Grievous" Said droid one, eventually.  
"ROGER ROGER."  
The first droid then turned to the droid at the entrance- "Seal the door."  
"ROGER ROGER."  
E looked at droid one, "If I wasn't stuck to this chair, I would kick your balls so hard they'd come out of your head."  
"Hey, hey E" Said K, "They don't have balls remember, they're droids!" And the two pilots fell into hysterical laughter once more.

Obi –Wan was in the hangar. It had been easy enough, with the front shields already disabled, but that didn't mean he was going to take any chances. He had already had to blast his way through dozens of vulture droids to get on board, but now he was inside he saw just how many they actually had. Obi-Wan scanned the area- E and K's fighters were both in the hangar, both badly damaged, but there was no sign of the two pilots. A group of droids stood guard outside the main blaster doors, but other than that the hangar was empty. Obi-Wan knew they were here; he could feel it in the force, but where? The cruiser was bigger than any other he'd seen, and they could have been taken anywhere. 'Oh well' Thought Obi-Wan, 'I guess I'm just going to have to search the entire ship.'

"I did not need to know this!" Shouted a mad, and frustrated, General Grievous. "What use could this information possibly be to me?"  
"We felt the information was necessary" Replied droid two, who had just come up from the medical ward to inform Grievous about E and K's hysterics.  
"Tell me" Hissed Grievous, "Have the pilots at all broken free?"  
"Negative."  
"Have they in any way damaged any equipment?"  
"Negative."  
"Have they damaged any droids?!"  
"Negative."  
"Then I didn't need to know!" Screeched the General. He grabbed droid two by the head and prepared to throw him; "This is what happens when you waste my time." The droid was flung across the bridge, somersaulting through the air until he eventually crashed into one of the core power units, sending thousands of volts of electricity surging through it. By the end, all that was left of the droid was a burnt out mess. Grievous went to return to his chair, but suddenly another droid walked on to the bridge.  
"What do you want?"  
"Sir, it's the Jedi- he is aboard the cruiser."

Space Lieutenant Rosseter sat aboard the bridge of Infinity. After the injury that Captain Volkov had sustained, he was the next most senior person who could take charge. So far, it had been a baptism of fire. The cruiser had taken significant damage, and although he shields were holding up, several spider droids were currently attached to the ship, trying to make sure that wasn't the case for very much longer. It was going to be tough, especially as they had lost contact with Obi-Wan Kenobi and the two scout pilots when they'd entered the droid ship, not to mention the fact the Republic was completely outnumbered from both sides. Another Republic cruiser was on its way as backup, but that wouldn't get to Kamino for another 30 minutes, so for now they were on their own.  
"Lieutenant Rosseter!" Came a voice from the background of the bridge, "We've got a serious problem here."  
"What sort of problem are we talking about?" Replied Rosseter, worried that the Spiders had finally broken down the shield.  
"It's the security cameras sir, they've all gone down."  
"All of them? Could it have been another EMP blast?"  
"No, everything else is still running fine, it's just the cameras."  
"Have you checked with Hansen and Svydkä down in Comms?"  
The officer grew quiet, stood there with a blank face that unnerved Rosseter.  
"Well? Have you?"  
"That's just the thing sir… Hansen…. Svydkä…. They're both dead sir. They've been shot."  
"Shot….. Oh god." Rosseter turned to the officer, "What's your name officer?"  
"Commanding Officer Falcon sir, Commanding Officer Skye Falcon."  
"OK, Officer Falcon, alert the guards, we've got a traitor on bo—"  
Rosseter felt himself stop mid-sentence. A sudden shockwave had thrown him off the ground, lurched the cruiser forward into a nose dive. The only thing that could have done that was an explosion from inside the ship, he was sure of it. He didn't need to guess that whoever had done this had also killed Hansen and Svydkä, and now it seemed like he was going to have killed them all.

General Grievous was sitting alone, thinking, calculating. The dark seemed to help him formulate ideas, especially if nobody was around to disturb him. He had the pilots as bait to lure the Jedi into his ship, and it had worked perfectly. Now the Jedi was on board though, he had absolutely no idea what to do with him. He wanted to face the Jedi himself, but not whilst he's at full strength. Maybe he could kill one of the pilots to emotionally wound him? Yes, that could work. Maybe he could catch him off guard whilst he's fighting off his battle droid army? So many ideas, such little time.  
"PAK 4, I require your presence." Whispered Grievous and a tall, silver droid stepped out from the shadows. He wasn't like other droids- he had a slim, cylindrical head with just one glowing red eye in the centre. The rest of his body was skeletal in design, with his vital components on show, but protected by an invisible outer force field. In fact, PAK 4 was a very special droid, one of the only droids in General Grievous' army that could actually think for itself. Part of a set of 5 Personality-Animated-Kinemadroids developed by Grievous on Geonosis, PAK 4 was one of just two to survive, the first 3 prototypes destroyed in battle. Whilst he was taken by Grievous to be a part of The Malevolence, PAK 5 was kept on Geonosis to oversee the creation of another droid cruiser- _The Invisible Hand._  
"I heard that the Jedi is on board our ship" Said PAK 4, in his grating metallic tone, something which Grievous had gotten used to by now.  
"Indeed he is. I need to see what this Jedi is made of, test him out."  
"Of course General. By the time I'm finished with him, he might not even make it to the bridge."  
"I don't doubt you on that, but I want him to get to me alive."  
"Excellent, I'm going to enjoy this."

It had all been too easy, far too easy. As Captain Volkov sat inside the escape pod of Infinity, he reflected on a job well done. The truth is he had never actually been shot. It had all been a setup, every last bit of it- there was no coincidence in the fact the shields had gone down at the exact same moment the Stormtroopers had attack in their landing craft. The Stormtrooper who had shot him was really a hologram, projected onto the battlefield; When he had been 'hit' by the hologram's blaster bolt, the Imperial chip inserted into Volkov's brain had projected the image of a burnt face onto his. All he had to do was go down face first to stop anyone seeing the slow transition. It was the perfect alibi- who was going to suspect someone who was gravely injured? From there he had been able to go down to Comms and shut down the cameras- the last thing he wanted was someone spotting him before he had finished. After Comms, it was straight down to the engine room, armed with over 5 kilos of explosive. That was one of the easiest parts, getting in to the engine room, but after that he had to pass through the war room on his way towards the escape pods. He had to wait in the shadows of the room for a good 10 minutes at least, but eventually he found an opportunity, and bolted for the escape pods. Now, sat there in absolute safety, it was the perfect time to contemplate what a brilliant job it was being an Imperial saboteur. Yes it was risky, it was dangerous, but it was the best job in the galaxy. He took a deep breath and launched the escape pod, sending himself out into the open space. He took one last look back, and hit the detonator.

Obi-Wan was nearing the bridge of The Malevolence. So far it had been pretty straightforward; sure there had been droid resistance along the way, but it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle. As he turned the corner, he came up against another set of droids. 3 of them were patrolling the corridor, the first two looking away, but the one at the end had spotted him.  
"Jedi! Get him!" Screeched the droid, firing in Obi-Wan's direction. He saw it coming though, and deflected the bolt back at the droid, hitting it in the chest and disabling it. The other two droids were alerted now, but Obi-Wan jumped into the middle of them. They stood, each eyeing the other one up. Both droids raised their blaster to fire, but just as they hit the trigger Obi-Wan jumped towards the ceiling, and the two droids ended up shooting each other. Obi-Wan jumped down, and then he saw it- he was at the bridge.

E and K had been hauled up to the bridge. What hysterics they had whilst in the medical bay had stopped abruptly once they saw General Grievous towering over them.  
"What do you want with us?" Asked E, who was pretty fed of being held on the bridge.  
"I want your Jedi friend." Replied Grievous, clasping his hands together as he stared out onto the battlefield. "I'm going to use you two as the perfect bait to draw him in here, and then I'm going to kill him."  
"You can't kill him. He'll crush you before you even get the chance." Said E, trying to sound tough even though Grievous was scaring the hell out of him.  
"HA!" Laughed Grievous, "I'd like to see him try. He may not even make it as far as the bridge if PAK 4 has his way."  
"So what's your problem with the Jedi then?" Asked K, who had been pretty quiet so far.  
"Not the Jedi, the Republic. They left me and my planet to burn!"  
"So plain and simple revenge then?"  
"This is not just about revenge; I am going to reclaim the honour of my people back from the very parasites that took it away!"  
E wondered what K was doing, asking so many questions, but then his eyes wandered to K's right hand, which was busy trying to grip a blaster pistol hidden under the seat.  
"So I guess this war was the perfect opportunity to 'reclaim' that honour?"  
"Enough with the questions. I am tired of this- soon the Jedi will be here, then I will kill him and you, and there's nothing you can do about it."  
With that, Grievous turned back to watching the battle unfold outside the ship.  
"I hope you know what you're doing." Said E, as he tried to cut K's restraints using a piece of scrap metal he'd found in the medical bay.  
"Yeah, just trust me." K pointed to the blaster pistol next to the one he was trying to free, "You might want to take that when this all goes down, it could get messy."

"The Jedi is on board the droid cruiser my lord, why are we not firing the Ion cannon?" Asked Dooku, as he sat inside the command station of their Destroyer.  
"Patience my apprentice, I need General grievous alive."  
"Alive?"  
"He could prove a very valuable asset to the Empire. He has technology that would be of great power if used in the right way."  
Dooku gave a sigh, "Yes, my lord."

He was at the bridge. There was no guarantee E and K would be there, but after the medical bay, which he had already searched, Obi-Wan knew that this was the next most probable option. Even if they weren't there, he might be able to find the captain of the ship. He was just about to go for the door, but something caught his eye. It was only briefly, but it was enough to make him stop. Slowly, he turned around, and came face to face with PAK 4.  
"Ah, Jedi, it's nice to meet you." Grated the droid, taking a pause before continuing, "You look familiar."  
"Well we certainly haven't met before" Claimed Obi-Wan.  
"No matter, you'll burn like the rest of them!" Yelled PAK 4, who dropped his hands to reveal two flamethrowers embedded into his wrists. Obi-Wan had to jump back to avoid his robes catching, but PAK 4 kept coming forward. Soon Obi-Wan was trapped against the door; He knew lightsabers could do nothing against flamethrowers, so with one swift movement he threw his lightsaber up in the air, threw out both hands, which forced PAK 4 all the way across the corridor, and caught his saber again. He launched himself at the droid, but PAK 4 rolled out of the way to avoid the lightsaber blow. Next thing he knew, the droid was on top him, wrestling him to the ground. Obi-Wan kicked the droid off him, but in doing so managed to toss his lightsaber across the floor. He went for it, but PAK 4 kicked him in the back, forcing him to the ground. From there it turned into a fist fight, but Obi-Wan was struggling to cope with the droid's strength. Pak 4 went in for a karate style chop, but Obi-Wan saw it coming, and sidestepped it. With PAK 4 recovering, he used the force and slammed the droid into the ceiling, then back down the floor. Obi-Wan continued yo-yoing PAK 4 like that, but as he went to throw him back up, the droid managed to stick a foot out, catching Obi-Wan in the face and knocking him off balance. Sensing an opportunity, PAK 4 ran for the abandoned lightsaber. Obi-Wan went for it too, but PAK 4 got there first, activating it inches away from Kenobi's face. Obi-Wan stopped, looked at his choices. There weren't many, but one could just work; with that, Obi-Wan killed the lights. Now PAK 4 couldn't see Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan had a perfect view of PAK 4, who was illuminated by the lightsaber he was holding. Now was the tricky part- he started to try and bring the roof down on PAK 4. The droid could hear the metal screeching above him, but had no idea what was going on.  
"Stop hiding Kenobi! Face me like a true warrior!"  
"Oh, I think this battle is just about over." Said Obi-Wan, and the ceiling came crashing down on top of PAK 4. He looked down at the crushed Kinemadroid, picked up his lightsaber, and headed for the bridge.

K had just finished cutting off E's restraints. Now that they were both free, it was easy enough to wrestle the guns out from underneath the seats next to them. They waited for Grievous to turn around, to face them. It took a few minutes, with the General absorbed by the battle raging outside of the ship, but he did eventually turn back to face them. That was when burst out from his position, pointing the gun towards Grievous.  
"Ha! You cannot harm me with that." Grievous retorted.  
"Maybe it's not you I'm aiming at." Said K, and pulled the trigger. The laser bolt fizzed over Grievous' shoulder and hit the window behind him, shattering it into thousands of pieces. Grievous was completely unprepared for it, and was sucked out into space without so much as a goodbye, along with several battle droids. After a few seconds the blaster shields finally came down, severing one of the unfortunate droids in half. Everyone just stood there in shocked silence. Then all hell broke loose.

Dooku watched on the screen as Grievous was thrown out of his cruiser. The fact he had gone through his own bridge window was a 1-in-a-million shot in itself, but Dooku couldn't help but think that The Emperor had known this was going to happen all along. He hit his relay button, and Captain Ozzik Sturn appeared on his screen.  
"Captain Sturn." Said Dooku, "It's time. Fire the Ion Cannon."  
There was a pause; "We're out of range for this power sir."  
"Charge the cannon to overdrive. I want that ship to burn."  
"It will be done."  
Now, thought Dooku, all he had to do was wait.

Obi-Wan barged onto the bridge and into the middle of a firefight. E and K were trapped behind a centre console, fending off the legion of battle droids pinning them down. They weren't doing badly at all, but Obi-Wan knew they could do with some help. He sliced down two droids with his lightsabers and forced another group into a set of controls, clearing a path for E and K, how gladly took it.  
"Behind you!" Yelled E at Obi-Wan, just as a Super Battle droid was about to bring down his arm on Kenobi's head. Using a combination of quick reactions and blind faith, Obi-Wan jumped to the right and swung his saber to the left, severing the Super's fighting arm at the hinge. The droid looked stunned, and Obi-Wan had no trouble in finishing it off.  
"Come with me!" Obi-Wan called out, and himself, E and K headed for the door. Once they were out, they headed straight for the hangar, but not before having to pick their way through the debris of Obi-Wan's earlier fight.  
"What happened here?" Asked K  
"I met a rather annoying droid." Replied Obi-Wan, but something wasn't right- that annoying droid was no longer buried under the rubble. He made a mental note to chase it up, but soon they were in the hangar, which was deserted.  
"OK, so how do we get out here then. We can't use out fighters." Asked E, and K pointed towards a droid gunship, which was the only manned craft available.  
"You can pilot one of those?"  
"Might as well give it a go."  
The three of them climbed aboard the gunship and headed out. This had all been surreal, but the fact they were still alive made it all the stranger for both E and K. Infact, K could swear he was seeing a bright white light heading towards them. No, not towards them, towards The Malevolence, but the other two hadn't seemed to notice. The beam passed straight past the gunship and disappeared from view; Maybe K had just imagined it after all? He turned back to E, and was pretty much ready to fall asleep….

Then The Malevolence exploded.

He certainly hadn't imagined that, even E and Obi-Wan had noticed it. The gunship shook violently from the shockwave emanating from what was left of The Malevolence, although that wasn't much at all- most of it had been obliterated in the blast.  
"What the hell was that!" Shouted E from the pilot's seat.  
"It's the droid ship…. It's gone."  
"Gone? But there's nothing left on the battlefield that could destroy a ship like that."  
"I don't know, but I swear to god this day is just getting weirder and weirder by the minute."  
"OK" Said Obi-Wan, "Excitement is over. Let's get back to our own cruiser before that thing, whatever it is, can strike again."

Rosseter woke up in a daze. Well, at least that meant that he was still alive. He took in his surroundings; most of the equipment around him was destroyed, and everything had slumped when the cruiser had lurched forward, but it seemed everyone was still alive. The cruiser itself was still pointing downwards, or at least what was left of it was, but it wasn't plummeting towards Kamino. They seemed to be stuck in orbit, but Rosseter couldn't be sure. Most of the battlefield around them seemed to be in just as bad a condition as they were, or worse, and there weren't any battles going on any more- now it was just a case of who had actually won the battle. That was when he saw it, out of the one remaining window, the backup Republic cruiser running parallel to his own, and it was sending landing crafts towards the stricken ship. To Rosseter, this was the best thing that he could have seen- It meant that they had won. It meant that everything was going to be alright.


	4. Trade Off

Trade Off

E had always enjoyed watching the sun set, but as the sun set over the Planet of Naboo, he looked at it with a different perspective. For some people, this may be the last time that they would ever get to see the sun set- he'd been close enough himself, stuck in the command ship of a deranged Cyborg, but fortunately he was still here; He was still alive. Many had not made it back. After their ordeal aboard _The Malevolence,_ E and K had been given a week off from battle. The two pilots had done more in one week than many people had ever done in their lives, and were being suitably rewarded. It was E who had suggested that they come to Naboo, which was (Only just) far out enough from the war to be considered safe, and K had agreed.  
"Such an amazing sight" Said E and K nodded his head in agreement. They were both on the balcony of their temporary residence, laid out on deck chairs and drinking hydric champagne, something of a rarity in that part of the galaxy, and certainly not something they would usually be able to afford. Although the sun was setting, it was still far more powerful than E and K were used to on Dantooine or Coruscant, so they had to wear sunglasses.  
"Yeah, if only our life could be like this every week." Said K. "I miss these days, when we could just come out to a planet on our days off from the academy and sit around, enjoying the view."  
E sat up, "I bet you any minute now our evening will be ruined by a call to action."  
"I hope not. Ever since the war started, everything has been so different- I mean, we almost died on board that cruiser. Days like this are going to become a rarity."  
"Look at us; speaking about the war like we're veterans, it's only been going on a week!"  
"Well at least the war hasn't come to this part of the galaxy yet. It's good that somewhere is safe from all of the fighting."  
"True, although if it did come here it would save us having to travel half way across the galaxy."  
"Do you think we'll be able to finish this war quickly E? Maybe the Supreme Chancellor can come to some sort of agreement with everyone, or something like that. I just don't want any more bloody fighting."  
"I somewhat doubt it. The droids we could probably defeat fairly easily; we've seen what they're like. They're only a part of this war opportunistically- I mean their leader is hell bent on revenge and will probably make a mistake sooner or later, plus all he has to fight are mindless droids who can't keep out of the line of fire. We can take them. I'm more worried about the Imperials- they seem organised, well trained. It was them who started the war, and they've certainly put a lot of thought into it, plus we have no idea where they came from or what their base planet is, if they have one at all."  
"Unfortunately, I think you might be right, which is what I was worried about."  
"Anyway," Said E, "Let's forget about this for now, enjoy the sunset."

General Grievous had just about had enough of space. It was endless, it was mind-numbingly boring, and it reminded him what a failure he had become. He had been forced to watch as his prized flagship, _The Malevolence,_ was blown into a thousand tiny pieces by an ion cannon; He had been forced to watch as the Jedi scum and his two pilots escaped the wreckage, and he had been forced to watch as the Republic retook control of Kamino. The only good thing to come out of this was that he was still alive, and where there is life, there is still a chance of victory. Of course, it was a good thing that General Grievous didn't have to breathe out there in the deep reaches of space, the only advantage that he seemed to have at the moment, but his body armour would need servicing soon- not that there was much chance of that happening- with him being stuck on an asteroid and floating nowhere in particular. Suddenly, something caught his eye- it was an Imperial landing craft, heading straight for his asteroid. He watched warily as the landing craft drew closer, and then proceeded to land. As soon as the doors opened, Grievous drew his lightsabers.  
"I wouldn't be worried of us if I was you" Said Count Dooku as he emerged from the craft in full breathing apparatus, "In fact; we're here to help you."  
Grievous hissed, "Why should I believe you, Imperial scum. You destroyed my cruiser, my one chance of killing that damned Jedi!"  
"Well, unless you want to spend the rest of your life floating on an asteroid, I don't really think you have much of a choice."  
"I'd rather take my chances out here than side with you."  
"Really? Because me and you actually have a lot in common. We both have hatred of the Republic, and of the Jedi order. We both want power- you want revenge and I want to rule the galaxy. Think about it, a partnership between us could be mutually beneficial; We take down the Republic together, I get control of the galaxy and you get to wipe the Jedi trash you so despise off the face of the universe."  
Grievous thought it over in his mind for a few minutes. It was certainly the perfect opportunity; He plays along with the Empire until the war is practically won, then he takes them down too. Everyone would burn, and Grievous would finally get his revenge. He would have to be careful of course; If he was going to take down the Empire, he would have to keep them in the dark about his operations. Sure, they would be able to take control of his main droid army and _The Invisible Hand_ once it was completed, but he had to make sure his little 'project' coming together nicely in the underground tunnels of Geonosis wasn't discovered, or he would stand no chance at all.  
"We have a deal" Said Grievous finally, "But I'm not going to play 2nd choice to your Imperials, I want to be there on the front line!"  
"Of course we can discuss terms," Said Dooku, "But not here. We'll be able to draw up a compromise once we're back on our Star Destroyer." With that, he led Grievous onto the landing craft and they set off back to base.

The Emperor had watched with a smile as the landing craft docked. He knew that Dooku had been successful, he could sense it. Grievous and Dooku entered the room, but the Emperor didn't bother turning around, he never did.  
"General, how nice to see you. Please, take a seat."  
Grievous found it odd that the Emperor was facing away from them, but he sat down none the less.  
"I am delighted that you have decided to join our side General, you'll prove a very useful asset indeed."  
"We came here to discuss a compromise" Grievous reminded the Emperor, "I'm not just here to be 'an asset'."  
"I've been admiring you for a long time General. You couldn't have known it, but I always wanted to make you a part of our fight from the start. It was us that rebuilt you when you crashed escaping from Kalee. The last Kaleesh, fleeing from a burning planet that was just about to implode- it was all very impressive, until you hit the satellite. I had you rebuilt into the warrior you are today, and I've been following your progress ever since. You were impressive above Kamino, even if you were outdone by a simple Republic pilot."  
"You blew up my ship."  
"We needed leverage to make sure you would come here. You wanted compromise, I'll give you a deal- you are a fantastic warrior General, and I'm prepared to give you the role of Imperial Strategy General, which means you will be responsible for all assaults on the ground and in orbit. You wanted to be on the front line General, this is your best opportunity to do exactly that."  
"What do you want in return?"  
"You surrender your entire army over to the Empire, I get to choose what units and how many you get for each assault, and there are no questions asked. If I want something done, it gets done."  
"It's a deal." Said Grievous and Dooku turned to face him.  
"So then General, where are we going to attack first?"  
"I know just the place" He replied. If he could, Grievous would have been smiling.

E and K were woken up by an alarm, but it wasn't the one they were expecting.  
"Oh that's just great; this is just what I need." Said K, and he turned to E, "Oi E, get up you lazy sod, it's Commander Stark."  
"I'm sorry to ruin your week off" Said Stark over the video link, "But we have a problem."  
"What kind of problem?" Asked E, who was now awake.  
"It's the Empire and the droid army. We think they've joined forces."  
"Joined forces?"  
"We picked up an Imperial Star Destroyer and a Droid Cruiser converging above the planet of Corellia, but instead of blowing pieces out of each other, they both started firing on our defences. We got caught completely off guard, and we're not holding up well. With twice the power, they're tearing us apart."  
"What has this got to do with us? You want us to help you, don't you?"  
"Yeah, although it's not me specifically that wants you back, it's Master Kenobi. He was obviously quite impressed with you in the battle of Kamino."  
E whistled, but K just looked down at the floor- it was quite something to get praised by a Jedi.  
"We need you to head for Corellia straight away" Stark continued.  
"You don't want us to come to Coruscant first?" Enquired K, and Commander Stark shook his head;  
"No, it would take too long. Head straight for Corellia- Master Kenobi is already on his way, he'll brief you on the plan once you get there."  
"Understood" Said E, and the transmission ended. K then turned to E with an unimpressed expression on his face.  
"Corellia, seriously? Even Kamino is closer to Naboo than Corellia is."  
"Change of scenery I guess. There's a lot more space traffic around Corellia than Kamino or even Bespin. At least we'll get to see the locals, or what's left of them."  
"That's not remotely funny, even for you." Said K, and the two, begrudgingly, headed for the Spaceport.

They arrived above Corellia in record time. Normally, this would be the point where they would suspect something was wrong, but this time was different- they knew something was wrong. There was nothing there. There was no space traffic, no massive Imperial cruisers, no Obi-Wan. Nothing.  
"You reckon we've accidentally shifted through time?" Asked K jokingly over the radio, struggling just as much as E to comprehend what was going on.  
"I'm afraid things have moved on a bit since you left Naboo" Came a voice over the radio; E instantly recognised it as Obi-Wan's.  
"Obi-Wan, what's going on?" He asked.  
"They were too strong for us. We managed evacuate most of the surrounding traffic, but they've managed to land craft here."  
"So what do we do?"  
"You land. We take the situation from there."  
K looked at E through the cockpit window, "Well, this certainly isn't going to end well."

Despite their reservations, E and K followed Obi-Wan's instructions, and soon they had landed on Corellia, in what could only be described as a barren wasteland.  
"It's good to have you two onboard again." Said Obi-Wan once everyone had set themselves up, "We have no idea what could lie over that ridge so we're going to need every man we have."  
E looked around; Apart from himself, K and Obi-Wan, there were about 20 Republican soldiers, and 4 all terrain armoured tanks. Whatever was going to go down, E couldn't help but feel a little vulnerable.  
"No disrespect Master Kenobi, but both K and I are pilots, not foot soldiers. I don't really feel comfortable outside a fighter."  
Obi-Wan thought for a minute, but then nodded his head in agreement. "I know, but you two are very good people to have. All we need to do first is find out what exactly is over that ridge, then we can decide the course of action. Something tells me I'm going to need you up in the sky regardless of what we find, don't worry about that."

They set off with the tanks protecting all sides of the army, but E and K still felt very exposed- with both being pilots, they knew just how easy it would be to initiate a bombing run on this entire convoy, and K doubted any of them would survive. Infact, he was extra vigilant, because, although he knew that the Imperials had already landed, he had no idea where the Star Destroyer, or the droid ship, had gone, and he was afraid they hadn't left Corellia's orbit.  
"Hold up" Said Obi-Wan, and everything stopped; They had reached the ledge. "E, K, with me." He commanded, and both E and K walked forwards towards the edge of the ledge.  
"You ready for this?" Asked Obi-Wan, and both said yes. With everything set, they took that first look over the ledge. What they saw blew their minds.  
"Holy…."  
"That's massive. How the hell did that get here?" Asked K in awe.  
"What I want to know is what the hell is it?" Replied E.  
"It's a drilling station. It's a massive drilling station. I've never seen anything like it before in my life."  
E and K were forced to step back as a great gust of wind took hold, but the drilling platform held steady. It was 200ft tall and at least 150ft wide, and it displayed itself right across the barren wasteland.  
"Look!" Said K, pointing towards the station, "Look what's controlling the drilling system."  
"Droids" Muttered E, and that got Obi-Wan's attention;  
"These droids look like they've been here for a while too. But how is that possible? How have the droid army managed to create a massive drilling platform on a Republic controlled planet and nobody has known?"  
"It's easy" Said K with a grimace, "This platform has been here for at least 6 months easy, which means it was set up before the war. It would have been fairly simple for Grievous to obtain permit; I mean, we're in the middle of nowhere here, nobody is going to care that someone wants to drill in the desert- it's hardly like there is anything supposed to be here, they probably thought he was mad—"  
"He is mad"  
"—And just gave it him for his satisfaction. He wasn't in anybody's way, so why would they care?"  
"And now that the war has started, he can use it for whatever scheme he has come up with." Said Obi-Wan, not at all too happy with what he had found. "Question now is, how many other planets has he managed to do something like this on?"  
"And how the hell do we stop this one?"  
"You can never stop me!" Came a voice from the background. It was unmistakably Grievous', but even though they could hear him, they couldn't see him anywhere.  
"Show yourself General" Said Obi-Wan, and Grievous gave out a grating laugh in return.  
"Oh I will Jedi. I'm going to crush you and your pathetic little friends, and then you will be forced to watch as this planet crumbles around you. Then you will truly know how it feels."  
With that, Grievous dived down from the hoverjet he had been stood on, landing in the centre of the squad. Obi-Wan instantly activated his ligtsaber, but Grievous waited; There was a hissing sound, and his arms separated- he had 4 now instead of 2, and each one held a lightsaber: 2 blue and 2 green.  
"Bring it!" Yelled Grievous, and Obi-Wan launched himself at the cyborg. Blow after blow Obi-Wan kept raining down hits towards Grievous, but with his extra sabers he blocked them with ease, deflecting each and every hit. It was taking its toll on Obi-Wan, and as he started to tire Grievous gained the upper hand, forcing Kenobi further and further back with each and every attack. Soon, they were back by the ledge leading to the drilling platform; Obi-Wan tried to outmanoeuvre Grievous, but in doing so almost slid straight over the edge. Grievous saw this as a perfect opportunity, and brought down the power of all four sabers in one hit. Obi-Wan just managed to get a saber lock, but the lightsabers were mere inches from his face. He held them, and slowly managed to push them away; This was no good to Grievous, so he spun back around, swirling two lightsabers above his head to form a shield as he battle Obi-Wan with his other limbs. The flurry continued with no clear end ahead. The entre Republic squadron were raining down blaster bolts towards Grievous every time he came near, but he deflected them with ease- infact, the army was beginning to thin as Grievous picked them off one by one. Just as Grievous had finished decapitating a Republic soldier, Obi-Wan came back at him with a wild slash that went straight through Grievous' shoulder, and followed it up with a stab, but Grievous made him and blocked it, then kicked the Jedi with all his strength, throwing him through the air where he landed on the edge of the ledge, just centimetres from certain doom….

E and K had spent most of the fight hiding behind a giant rock. They still weren't used to being in battle zones, and certainly not whilst on the ground. The air was their home. Now, all they could do was watch and hope as Obi-Wan battled against the deranged General.

Grievous brought his foot down hard, winding Obi-Wan, but right now that foot was the only thing stopping Kenobi from falling down the cliff and into the abyss below. He stared into the eyes of the General, but he saw nothing in them but anger and hatred. Suddenly, there was a huge tremor, and the ground shook violently beneath everyone. Obi-Wan sensed his opportunity, and forced Grievous across the desert. He seemed to be in the air for ages, but eventually came back down, landing with a distinct crack against a rock- The very rock E and K were hiding behind. E, running on instinct, rushed out and fired at Grievous, but the cyborg was up quickly and deflected the shot. He straightened up and, without even looking, backhanded E so hard that he was knocked clean off his feet. Obi-Wan wasn't done though, and whilst Grievous was distracted he launched a scathing attack, slicing at his back and cutting through the protective armour plating, before ripping off one of his arms, and slashing a hit across his face. When he was finished, Grievous was down.  
"I'm going to finish you now General, end this once and for all" Called out Kenobi, but Grievous was back on his feet.  
"No, I will never die!" The droid shouted, and kicked Kenobi in the chest, knocking him off balance. Sensing the opportunity, Grievous launched himself up into the air. He hung there for a second, but then his hoverjet burst through the sky and Grivous landed perfectly onto it.  
"This isn't over General."  
"Oh but it is. Right now my army is drilling right down to Corellia's core. Once it gets through, the entire planet will be de-stabilised, and it will explode into so many pieces, they'll never be able to count them all. Not only will the Republic's major trade routes be ruined, but you will finally have to feel the pain that I have felt for all these years! Consider this a trade-off- I'm trading the demise of my planet for one of yours. You must watch your friends die, or you will die along with them, Jedi!"  
The hoverjet burst off into the distance. The wind picked up again and sand was blown into view, obscuring Grievous' craft. Once it had settled down again, Grievous was gone. Then there was another violent tremor, and it had come from the drilling rig.

K had a plan. Strategy had always been his thing, not combat- that was more E's forte. Whenever they had been forced to hold up a cargo ship or freight liner whilst on their scouting trips, it was always E who did the talking or punched a few holes through things to make a point, but it was K who came up with the strategy. Having been afforded time by Obi-Wan's fight with General Grievous, he had taken it upon himself to hack into the drilling rig's electrical system. Now he knew pretty much everything about the landscape- dimensions, work force, security, weak spots. Everything was manned by droids, and everything was automated. It wasn't going to be easy, but it was possible; they were going to do a bombing run.

Obi-Wan listened over K's proposal eagerly, pleased to see that he had made the right decision in bringing the two pilots along to Corellia. He could have easily left them on Naboo, but he knew they had much more talent that either of them realised, and even more potential than some Jedi Knights. Most of the Jedi Council had disagreed with him, but he had read the reports about Bespin, and he had plenty of allies who had been there too. All of them had said the same thing. It was the reason he had personally asked for them to accompany him to Kamino, and now to Corellia. He saw their potential to be the people who could end this war. What K was proposing was a bombing run on the drillscape, one that would knock the actual drill out of its holder and fry the major circuits. If done correctly it would knock the drill completely out of action, and Corellia would be safe.  
"There's nothing else we can really do, and if we leave then the drill will hit the core, and then who knows what might happen." Concluded K, and Obi-Wan went to address the two pilots immediately.  
"How long do we have until the drill hits the core?"  
"Twelve hours, but that's not going to matter, because we might just be in trouble a lot, lot sooner."  
"What do you mean?" Asked E, who could tell that K had become suddenly anxious.  
"I've just got the readings back on the planet core composition….. I knew the data we originally had was a bit dated, but I never knew it had changed this much…."  
"K, what's going on?" Said Obi-Wan. He could sense a disturbance in the force, but only K knew what that disturbance was.  
"OK, here goes. Back when the last planetary survey was done, it was observed that Corellia's core was composed of a molten Uranium core surrounded by molten Iron, with the two basically interlocked. Well, it turns out things may have slightly moved on, because the iron outer layer has completely solidified, and there is enormous pressure from the molten Uranium actual core. As soon as that drill hits the Iron, the entire core will bust through the gap."  
"In English?"  
"We have just 30 minutes to pull this thing off."

E and K both ran straight to their fighters. They were brand new fighters, after the trouble above Kamino, and so they had both given them new names- K had nicknamed his _Fireflash,_ and E had christened his _Gravity._ They were too close to pull off a run straight away, so the plan was to fly away from the rig, then double back on themselves and hit them hard. They had the four Republic tanks in position, ready to cover fire against the auto-turrets that protected the drill. Smoke grenades fired at the rig would hopefully obscure the view of the turrets as to the arrival of E and K, and then they would hit the drill with a laser targeted Nutonic charge bomb. They took off with no mishaps- infact; the entire place was completely empty. The first part was probably the easiest thing they had ever done. Soon they reached 15Km and started the double back, arcing in a large circle, aimed perfectly at the drillscape.  
"You ready for this?" Asked E as he prepared to arm the charge bomb.  
"As ready as we'll ever be I guess. Charges set?"  
"Charges are set, laser target is printed- 12Km from threshold and decreasing."  
"Initiate cover fire" K commanded.  
"Initiating cover fire" Said E, who then moved over to the main radio. "All units, initiate stage 1 cover fire."  
"10Km from threshold."  
The Republic tanks all moved into position on E's order. Now right at the edge of the ledge, they aimed towards the auto-turrets, and opened fire. The turrets, not expecting any form of attack, were slow to respond, but eventually picked out the tanks and returned fire. The entire landscape was now illuminated in blaster fire, with the tanks continually moving position to avoid being hit. The turrets were taking heavy damage, but there were more of them than the tanks, and it was a deadly even fight. Suddenly there was another massive tremor, and an entire section of the ledge started to give way, with one of the tanks still sat on it. The tank attempted to reverse, but it was too late, and the ledge gave way, taking the tank tumbling down with it. The ledge wasn't the only thing damaged by the tremor, and an entire section of the rig started to slide. It strained and strained, but it couldn't take the pressure and gave way forcing the whole rig to collapse on its left side, and a few of the turrets were crushed in the collapse. It was carnage.

"E!" Radioed Obi-Wan, "We've lost one of the tanks. There's been some massive subsidence, the rig has slipped on one of its edges."  
"I can see" E replied, "I've adjusted the laser target, but it's too close now to change if there's another slip."  
"Understood, we'll keep up the cover fire from our end. Good luck."  
"Now 7Km from threshold." Said K, "Arm charges."  
"Charges are armed, laser target is affirmative." Replied E, "We're all good to go."  
"Prepare smoke. Get ready to fire on my command."  
"Smoke is armed."  
"5Km from threshold- fire smoke!"  
E hit the button, and two rockets fired out from under his craft. They ripped through the air and landed right in the centre of the rig, pouring out dark grey smoke that covered the entire area. The turrets, however, did something E and K did not expect them to do- they fired towards the reverse trajectory of the smoke rockets, which was right at E and K.  
"Avert! Avert!" Yelled Obi-Wan down the radio as soon as he saw this, and E split off from K, the blaster bolts narrowly missing both fighters. After the initial flurry, the turrets then focused back to the tanks, giving the pilots a clear run.  
"Damn that was close" Said K and E whistled in agreement. "Now 3Km from threshold" He continued. E tensed his body, gripping the controls tightly. They had just one shot at this; there wouldn't be enough time to go round and have a second run- there was just 5 minutes remaining.  
"2Km from threshold. Laser target set. Prepare rockets."  
"Rockets ready. Switching to targeting mode."  
"1Km from threshold"  
"Steady…."  
"Threshold reached. Open fire!" Commanded K over the radio. Both the pilots opened the tabs and pressed down hard on the trigger. Rockets screamed out from underneath them- the turrets valiantly protecting the rig tried to blast them out of the sky, but it was too late, they had breached the defences. One rocket hit the drill right at its centre, splitting it into two, with the bottom piece flying off at a tangent now it had nothing to hold it in place. The second rocket flew into the top section of the drill, blowing apart the metalwork. The top section, without the bottom of the drill to stop it, fell right into the drilling hole. It wasn't finished though; now that the drill was free, it swerved straight through the structure supports holding it in place, severing most of them at their hinges. Unable to cope with the limited support, the entire central structure bent and buckled, until finally everything gave way, and it collapsed on top of itself, crushing each and every battle droid on the platform and causing the central console to explode into flames. The drill was bounced up into the air, clearing most of the wreckage, but it landed next to the main fuel line, pinning it to the ground and causing the roof to fall apart around it. The drill piece had stopped now, but the fuel pressure was building up rapidly...

There was a split second where everything stopped, where Corellia ceased to rotate and time refused to move forward, and then the entire fuel store exploded in an amazing blaze that engulfed almost the entire rig. The fire spread rapidly, and soon the whole rig was alight in an infinite inferno. The sky darkened as black smoke filled the area, and the rig's supports, already weakened by the slip earlier on, cracked and split, hydraulic fluid hissing out from the gaps, causing the fire to burn even brighter than it had before. E and K looked back at the rig, and realised just how close they had come to seeing the entire planet blown apart. The rig had settled down somewhat, but Obi-Wan could hear a terrible screeching noise building up from beneath the rig where the drill hole had once been. The noise was getting louder, more and more unbearable every minute, until finally it hit a fever pitch and the entire rig went up in an incredible fireball. The shockwave knocked Obi-Wan and his entire squad off his feet and blew the tanks backwards. He tried to get up, but was knocked back to the ground. The heat was incredible, and the fire so bright it was virtually blinding. The rubble had barely settled when a gigantic sinkhole opened up where the hole had been, dragging everything in with it- support structures, droids and even the destroyed tank were sucked down into oblivion. There was a rumble of thunder and one final tremor, and then everything was still. Everything was finished.

As soon as everything had settled down, the squad had headed back to Coruscant. There was no sign of General Grievous, and there was still no sign of either Cruiser, Imperial and Droid. Now, back on Coruscant, E, K and Obi-Wan were stood before the Galactic Senate, explaining what had gone on with Corellia. Grievous, the drilling rig, the bombing run- everything had to be relayed, and everything had to be noted down. Corellia was a mess. The final explosion had been so great that it has split the planet's crust in two, and the planet was so unstable nobody knew if anyone would ever be able to go back. What was once green hills and a busy metropolis was now in ruins, damaged by the constant lava flows that oozed through the cracks. As the Senate heard the story of how things went down on Corellia, one thing became apparently clear- General Grievous had won the battle. He had set out to destroy Corellia and damage the Republic's trade routes, and that is exactly what had happened. He had shown them that the Droid army were not going to be pushovers, nor was his alliance with the Empire. He had proved just how naïve they had all been about his army.

There was, however, still hope. The Republic may have lost the battle of Corellia, but the war was far from finished. They were still going to win this war.


	5. Revolt

**REVOLT**

"Galactic Senate Chamber, Galactic Senate, Coruscant. 05/08/5227, 19:45 Galactic Standard Time. Emergency meeting of the Senate."  
"Members of the Galactic Senate, and to those of you who cannot be here in person, I have brought you here today for an emergency meeting because that is exactly what the situation has become- an emergency. Any last attempts to find a peaceful negotiation ended when our enemies brazenly attacked and critically damaged one of our key planets. That was the last straw. What was once a conflict has now become a full blown war, a war in which we cannot back down. We have been stretched to the extreme and suffered casualties by the thousands, but we have so far been able to halt the progress of both the Empire and the Droid army, both of which are now working in tandem. This presents a challenge beyond anything we have ever had to face before, and so I come before the Senate to ask you for emergency war powers which I shall use to increase the size and firepower of our Republic army, so that we can end this war as quickly as possible! This is a necessary step to help the Republic achieve its aim of defeating this insurgent Empire- I know it will not be without cost, but without sacrifice there is no victory. We must be victorious."  
The Senate arose to acknowledge Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad's speech, but it didn't last long- soon, the many representatives were impatiently trying to put forward their many varied opinions.  
"With all due respect," Shouted the representative from Malastare, "The Republic is losing this war not because of a lack of number or equipment, but because of the poor strategy and defence systems implemented by your leadership."  
"We agree!" Continued the representative from Naboo. "Why should we risk the lives of our people for a leader we have no faith in?"  
A great roar echoed inside the chamber as each and every planet erupted into vocal discontent. It was so loud, Ekstraad couldn't even hear himself think as he tried to bring the situation under control. In the end it was one of his personal aides- a Coruscant native called Kal, who managed to silence the crowd with a sonic disruptor gun.  
"This meeting is over" Said Kal, forcefully, and the Supreme Chancellor descended from view to an intense cry of dismay from the crowd above.

He dismissed his aids with the wave of a hand as he sauntered down the corridor towards his private chamber. The Senate session had been hell, and he knew that people were losing confidence in his leadership. He didn't even have to hear them say it; he could tell in their body language that they were fed up every time he went to make a speech, and it wouldn't be long before they wanted his head on a pole. That was the last thing this Republic needed, yet he knew it was exactly what they wanted. He cursed to himself as he reached his door for being so hasty- he had almost forgotten to send Kal, his number two, the battle plans for trying to take back Geonosis. He practically collapsed into his chair as soon as he cleared security, his head spinning with far too much for him to handle; How should he get back public support? How should he stop the Empire's next attack? How should he stop the merciless slaughter of his troops every time they enter battle? How could he start protecting member planets? And how the bloody hell could he do any of that with a Senate unwilling to give him the necessary political war powers?! He wasn't a war leader, he knew that. It was hard enough trying to keep a peaceful system in order, but this was all just too much for someone like him. He couldn't resign though, absolutely no way. The sheer amount of time and effort that goes into a Supreme Chancellor election would give the Empire the perfect opportunity to strike. He sat back up and started for his drink, but that was when he noticed somebody sitting in the chair behind him. He didn't know how long they'd been there, but it was long enough to make him feel uncomfortable…

3 weeks. It had been a whole 3 weeks since that very first battle above Bespin. E looked out of the his window and across the Coruscant skyline, reflecting on just how much had changed since that day when he had found out the Republic was going to war. It had been just another day. K had been watching the telecast and E had been busying himself by making a sandwich, not that he actually ever got to eat that sandwich. Ever since then, they had been put under more stress than they had ever experienced before, and seen more conflict and destruction in a week than they had in a whole lifetime of scouting trade routes. E knew he was struggling to hold himself together- the sleepless nights, the lack of appetite, the lack of enthusiasm. He knew exactly why it was happening, but he knew that whatever he was going through, K was having it worse. He'd hear K shout out in the middle of the night, and he always looked like he was about 80 years older than he was. E looked back out over the skyline, and thought again about how things had been before. He missed the old times, he missed them so very much.

"You shouldn't be here." Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad said as calmly as he could without sounding nervous. He glanced backwards one too many times, and took a shaky deep breath.  
"I know I shouldn't" Said Count Dooku. He got up out of the chair and walked towards Ekstraad. He walked slowly, but with purpose- there was no way he was going to leave. "But you might as well make use of me whilst I'm here."  
"You have some nerve showing up here" Ekstraad hissed back, "If people see us two together then it's going to be the end of both of us, and then your beloved Emperor will get free reign over the galaxy. I know even you don't want that."  
"Oh don't you worry about that Chancellor, there's no way I'm going to be caught here. You know, I always had my suspicions, but now I'm here I can safely say that the fabled Darth Cerberus is indeed right here infront of me, leading the Galactic Republic, yet nobody has an idea who their leader actually is."  
"I left the Sith a long time ago, and their tyrannical ideologies along with it. Don't forget that you've done exactly the same as me. We actually left the order together, if I'm not mistaken?"  
"We may have both left the order, but at least I have not lost what it's like to be a master of the Dark side of the force. You defected to the other team- the team that sides with the Jedi!"  
"I moved to a better system!" Yelled Ekstraad, tipping the table over besides him and storming towards Dooku, who was unfazed, "I moved to a place without the corruption that crippled the Sith, you joined up with a crazed fanatical who believes he's a god! You might as well have stayed with the Sith." Ekstraad finished his rant by pushing Dooku backwards over his chair, where he landed with a distinct thud. Ekstraad backed up, expecting Dooku to come for him, but instead Dooku just stood back up and walked towards the Chancellor. He pressed himself close, and made sure Ekstraad wouldn't miss what he had to say;  
"You and me, we're not as different as you would like to believe. You go on about corruption within the Sith, yet look where you are, the largest tyrannical body in the Galaxy. You have control over almost everyone, and yet here you are trying to talk to me about morals."  
Ekstraad went to reply, but there was a sudden intrusion that made both of stop in their tracks- it was Kal, Ekstraad's second in command.  
"Oh great" Sighed the Chancellor, "This is exactly what I need right now."  
Kal drew his gun immediately, training it carefully on Dooku, but the Sith incarcerator didn't look the slightest bit worried about it. The 'standoff' carried on for half a minute until everything ground to a complete stop. Ekstraad looked at Dooku and smiled, before ordering Kal to withdraw his weapon.  
"Don't worry Kal" Ekstraad said, almost passively, "This is a diplomatic meeting, if ever that were possible."  
Kal, somewhat confused, placed his blaster back into its holster and walked back towards the door. He looked nervous, but didn't know what to say. Eventually Ekstraad had to force it out of him.  
"It's outside…. The people, they're trying to break in."  
"Break in?"  
"Yes sir. It's like some sort of revolt going on outside."  
Ekstraad sat down to think. This was the last thing he needed right now, least not because Dooku was currently with him. He got up and paced up and down the room, restless in trying to think of a solution. Both Kal and Dooku were both still, neither really knowing what the best thing would be to do; Dooku even looked visibly bored.  
"OK" Said Ekstraad, finally deciding to break the silence. "We've all got to get out of here somehow. I suggest we try and use the side passage and see if we can avoid the crowd." Kal showed his agreement, although Dooku seemed neither bothered nor concerned about what they did.  
"It's settled, let's go."

"E my man, you have to take a look at what I've just got us."  
"K….. What the hell are those?"  
"Well," Said K, preparing himself for having to give an explanation, "It makes sense, doesn't it?"  
"K! These guns cost like 5,000,000 credits. How the hell did you pay for these?"  
K put the two guns down on the table. The CZR X-4 Compact Blaster's metallic black coating glimmered in the sunlight, rippling the air around where they lay. The blasters were the most powerful, and expensive, compact action rifles money could buy. At full power they could unleash 500 bolts per minute at a power rating of Mach 12- enough to sear through tank armour- and could last for 24 continuous hours without the energy source depleting itself dry.  
"Technically I may not have paid for them. Remember Aro Von Vassie, the billionaire trade merchant we helped bust out of his damaged Trade Ship above Corulag a couple of months ago? I ran into him whilst out earlier. He gave them to us as a gift for helping him."  
"K, people do not just give you million credit guns as a thank you present."  
"OK so I may have had to remind him about what we did for him. He had a whole crate full of them anyway, it's not like he's going to miss them. Besides, considering what we've been through so far, these could come in pretty handy."  
E had still been standing, looking out of the window, throughout the whole time K had been talking to him, but he hadn't been paying attention to the crowd that had amassed below them, trying to break into the Senate building.  
"Holy crap! K, come take a look at this!"  
"Oh, so now it's your turn to exclaim about something" K said with a large smirk across his face. He lost it as soon as he looked out of the window.  
"Oh wow, this does not look good." He Said, stunned. There were at least 5000 people attempting to break down the defences placed around the Galactic Senate building, and they were starting to get through. K knew that Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad had made an emergency speech earlier that day, but he had been out so hadn't had a chance to listen to it. It obviously hadn't gone well.  
"You reckon we should go and take a look at what's going on?" Said E.  
"Definitely" Replied K, "You want to take the guns?"

Blue lights flashed, illuminating the area around which they ran. A siren, high pitched and blazingly loud, echoed around the corridor. The whole room was spinning, but he kept going. There was only one way out, just one way to safety, and they had to reach it. He stopped to catch his breath, but almost instantly carried on once he felt himself start to sway. It was all a blur, but somehow Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad was making it towards the exit. Kal and Dooku were both ahead of him, Kal scouting the exit. Ekstraad suddenly realised that they had stopped again;  
"What's going on, why have we stopped?" He demanded of his number two, who was busy trying to read the holo-map infront of him.  
"I don't know which way the exit is. This map is two years old and none of the corridors are on here."  
"What do you mean you don't know?" Ekstraad shouted in desperation, "We **have** to get out of here, they're close to breaking down the defences."  
There was a sudden, sharp screech and the sound of smashing glass. An audible cheer resonated above the sound of the siren, growing louder with each second.  
"It's too late" Said Ekstraad, then repeated it for emphasis. "Kal, activate emergency shutdown!"  
Kal acknowledged the order and slammed his fist down on a button beside his watch. The siren stopped, and 3 solid Sytonium blast shield doors slammed shut behind them, drowning the ever increasing crowd out from behind them.  
"So what does this mean then?" Asked Dooku, his first words since they had set off.  
"It means that I'm stuck with you until the crowd subsides and we can call off the emergency shutdown" Said Ekstraad, before adding "Unfortunately, that might be some time."

The good thing about spending 5 years training at the Republic Space academy was that E and K knew almost every shortcut and side route around Coruscant's main architecture. Before they would use it if they felt like having a laser battle or more usually if K wanted to hack into the Senate's large display board and change the messages without anybody being able to know where they were. This time, however, they were using it to avoid the hoard of people who had broken past the security defences. Now they were in an alley above the building, and could see the chaos that was raining down below.  
"Something tells me we shouldn't go any further than this," Said K, "Who knows what could happen once we get down there?"  
"I know what you mean; a group of rioters can be the most unpredictable set of people you come across. I still think we should get closer- I can see Commander Stark down there, maybe we could ask him what we should do."  
"You know his actual rank is Space Brigadier right? I made the same mistake of calling him Commander back on Naboo."  
"You don't think he cared do you? I mean, Commander is so much easier to say."  
"Well he didn't pull me up on it."  
"We'll stick to Commander then."  
"You know what we should do?" Said K, changing the subject. "We should change the Senate message board again, just for old times' sake."  
"And risk angering a whole mob of protestors?"  
"Oh come on, you're just being paranoid. It's not like Count Dooku is down there or anything."  
"Oh fine, go on then. Don't tell me what it is though, I want to see when we get down there."  
K's face lit up with that, and he set to work hacking the message board once again. He was done in record time, and the two of them went down to meet with Space Brigadier Stark. Stark looked surprised to see them, but he was the last person that was going to turn them away.  
"What's going on here Commander?" E asked, and Stark broke away from his group to tell them.  
"It's madness here. After Ekstraad cut short the Senate meeting the public have gone mental. It started with small demonstrations, but now the crowd has grown in size and the whole thing has kicked off."  
"Where's the Supreme Chancellor?" K enquired, and Stark gave a shrug on his shoulders.  
"We don't know, and that's our major problem. We've tried to get inside, but every time we've been met with resistance. The whole Senate building is in shutdown, so wherever he is, he's trapped."  
E looked at K, and he knew exactly what his best friend was thinking. So much for hanging back and not getting involved then.  
"You two sure you want to do this?" Stark asked after E had explained his idea.  
"It's as good a chance as any that we'll be able to find the Supreme Chancellor."  
"OK, but you're going to need blasters, just in case you come up against any resistance."  
"Got that one covered" Said K, and he held up both CZR X-4 Rifles. Stark's jaw dropped when he saw them, but he quickly regained his composure.  
"It would seem you do indeed have that covered. You best get moving then, before the crowd breaks further into the building.  
They both agreed, and set off towards the underground entrance none of the crowd seemed to have found out about yet. As they walked, guns slung over their shoulders, E took a look up at the Senate message board to see what K had put, and wasn't disappointed:

 **THE LEGION OF E AND K WELCOMES YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS TO THE GALACTIC SENATE FOR YOUR WHIRLWIND TOUR OF DAMAGE AND DESTRUCTION. PLEASE DON'T SHOOT US.**

E shook his head in comic dismay, and looked over to K, who held a childish 'What did I do?' look on his face. The rioting crowd didn't seem too impressed either, and started attacking the board, until it eventually buckled and collapsed forward, landing with an audible crack. E shook his head again, and the two of them started walking towards the oblivion that lay before them.

"Are you absolutely sure there's no way out of here?" Said Ekstraad, his desperation growing with each and every second that passed. The three of them had been endlessly searching for some way out of the shutdown corridor, but to no avail. It wasn't just the entrapment that was worrying Ekstraad though, the temperature of the corridor was increasing rapidly, and it was losing oxygen. Soon, they would all suffocate.  
"Kal, how much oxygen do we have left?" Esktraad then asked, seeing as nobody had bothered to answer his first question.  
"Levels here are down to 37%... Temperature has risen to 47… At this rate, I give us less than 5 minutes."  
Ekstraad sat down, sweat pouring from his forehead. It was unbearable, and now he knew that in 5 minutes the oxygen would run out and the three of them would die. He tried stopped thinking about it, but there was a quiet, rather annoying hissing noise that he couldn't get out of his head.  
"I guess this is what happens when you start to go mad" He muttered, but then he realised he wasn't thinking about it. The noise was real. It was coming from the air vent. A dense, colourless gas was pouring into the room at an incredible rate. Suddenly it all made sense; The oxygen wasn't escaping from the room, something else was coming in something which not only removed oxygen from the air but also increased the temperature. He needed to find some way of stopping the gas, and he had less than 3 minutes to do it in.

"Follow the heat signature!" Commanded K as they rushed through the open and abandoned storage spaces. After breaking into the Senate building they had managed to pick up Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad's heat signature in a corridor, and he wasn't alone- there were 2 more heat signatures in there with him. That wasn't what worried K though, because he's picked up something other than the two heat signatures- he'd picked up a tank in the adjacent room, and it was leaking highly toxic Hydrogen Zionide gas into the corridor. If they didn't get there in time, then everyone would be dead.  
"Which way?!" Asked E. K took a sudden right turn, and E slipped over trying to follow him. K didn't wait though, there wasn't enough time to do that, E could catch up later. He followed his map, skating through tunnels and climbing over grates, until finally he came to the heat signatures. There was one problem though….

Nobody was there.

K frantically looked around for any sign of the Supreme Chancellor. He left no box unturned and certainly made sure he made an electro-magnetic sweep of the area. They were certainly here, he knew it, but he just didn't know where. E had caught up now, and started helping to search, but he too was coming up empty.  
"Where the hell are they?"  
"I don't know! None of this makes sense, the heat signature is here"  
"Well the people those signature belong to are certainly bloody not."  
"OK", said K, stopping, "Let's think about this rationally. We are right on top of the heat signatures, but nobody is here. What is the only explanation."  
"Of course. We're so stupid."  
"Indeed. They must be directly below us."  
"There isn't enough time to go back downstairs though, is there?"  
"No. The concentration of gas is up to 3.2, they have about 1 minute. Unless…."  
"Unless what?" Asked E, impatient to hear what K had to say.  
"The guns. We're going to have too blast our way through the floor."  
E didn't need to be told again. He tore his gun from its holder and pointed straight down at the floor. The blue power bar charged in just a fraction of a second, and then E unleashed the full power of the CZR X-4 onto the floor beneath him. The gun glowed a violent blue as brilliant white flashes of power surged into the concrete. The gun was created to break through tank armour, and as such it made light work of the floor, ripping it to shreds.  
"There they are!" Yelled E, spotting Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad and his number 2, Kal. Both of them looked unconscious, so K wasted no time in jumping down. He was hit with an instant state of breathlessness as the gas entered his system, but he ignored it, working his way towards the Chancellor. He knew he had to get the air back in the room somehow. He looked around, and came across one of the blast doors.  
"E!" He yelled as loud as he could, but the gas was impairing his speech. "E dammit... *cough* Come down he… I... need help… blast door." K collapsed in a coughing fit, and E jumped down to help him. He hadn't heard much of what K had said, but he instantly saw the blast door and opened fire on it. The blast door was 1 metre of solid Titanium, much thicker than any regular armour. The blaster blots seared into the metal, but no matter how hard he tried they wouldn't get through. He fired, and fired, but his energy was weakening. He tried to concentrate all his energy on one point, but the temperature was now up to 55, and he couldn't keep his hand still in the intense heat. K, somehow, had managed to get back to his feet, and joined E in firing on the blast door. Somehow, with the power of two guns, the door started to burn, and the bolts were breaking through. Cool air rushed in through the gaps, liberating the room from the vice grip it had been held under; Ekstraad suddenly started to stir too, sitting up in a coughing fit. He was still alive.

It took a few minutes for everyone to get their bearings, but soon they had managed to clear out what remained of the gas, and they had got the temperature down to bearable levels. Now they just needed to find a way of shutting off the gas supply altogether.  
"We'll do it" E and K said. "It's literally just through that door, it'll take 2 seconds once we find the right valve."  
"OK" Said Ekstraad, before adding "Once again boys, I can't thank you enough for doing this. You saved my life."  
"There is one thing" Said E, "We picked up 3 heat signatures in here, yet there are only two of you. Were there 3 of you?"  
This made Ekstraad take a look around. Kal was there, but that was it. He took a double take just to make sure, but Count Dooku had definitely disappeared.  
"I don't understand" Ekstradd said, stumped.  
"And," E continued, "What the hell is this?" He held up a small platform that had been by his feet. Ekstraad knew exactly what it was, he'd seen enough of them.  
"It's a holo-droid. They create holograms of people when they can't attend Senate meetings."  
Then it hit him.  
"Dooku. Dooku was a hologram. The bastard was never here in the first place! This was all a setup!"  
"Hang on a sec," Said E, who was still looking at the droid, "What is this…." He stopped. Everyone stopped. The droid was carefully constructed, but there was one gap inside of it that E could see into, and he could see right into the heart of the bomb he was now holding. Carefully, he twirled the droid until he got to the timer. It read just 5 seconds.  
"RUN! EVERYBODY RUN!"

E woke up in a daze. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he knew that he was still in the Senate building. The place was a complete mess, slanted at an angle and completely missing it's roof. A great storm had began over Coruscant, and E was completely soaked. He tried to get up, but his strength had escaped him, and he collapsed back against the wall. He took a look around, but instantly wished he hadn't; Kal was severely injured, and there was no doubt that Supreme Chancellor Ekstraad was dead, his body laying on the floor, severe burns covering it in its entirety. There was no sign of K anywhere. There was a sharp crack of thunder overhead, and the building started to creek and groan.  
"Not again…" E said to himself, "We had enough of this on Corellia."  
There was another crack of thunder and the building slipped, shearing it's central support bolts. The corridor was now near vertical, and E couldn't keep himself up much longer. He clawed, grabbed, dug, but he had no strength to hold on. He let go, and fell. He closed his eyes; Time slowed to a crawl as he thought about everything, everything that could have been. He passed through the window and out into the storm below, free falling towards certain doom. He opened them again, fully expecting to find himself in the depths of despair, but he didn't. He had stopped. Someone was holding onto him.  
"It's nice to see you again" Said K, and E nearly slapped him in relief.  
"I thought I was dead. I thought **you** were dead."  
"You really think I was going to let a small thing like an explosion tear us apart?"  
"What even happened?"  
"We got lucky. What was left of the blast door shielded us from most of the blast, but you managed to whack your head on the wall and knock yourself out. I was going to stay inside with you, but I accidentally fell out of the window, much like you just did."  
"I take it you know about Ekstraad?"  
"You kidding me? I had to spend 20 minutes in there with his body. I'm surprised nobody found us."  
E decided now would be a good time to grow serious about the matter, but failed. Near death had given him a screwed sense of personality; "This is a mess. I mean, I know we expected the war to be tough, but everywhere we go we seem to create trouble. We didn't even have to be here! We could have just held back and let the bomb go off by itself. Ekstraad is dead anyway!"  
"I know, I've thought the same whilst hanging here. Do you ever think that it's fate that this is happening to us?"  
"Fate?"  
"Yeah, the force has weird ways of influencing people. Something just tells me that this was meant to be, that we were supposed to be a major part of the Republic resistance, whether we intended to or not."  
E wanted to reply, but the two were interrupted by a whirring noise overhead, a noise that belonged to a helijet.  
"It's about time!" E shouted as two men began to winch down. They strapped themselves onto the two pilots, and soon everyone was safe onboard the jet. They saw Stark there, who was just about as relieved they were still alive as they were themselves.  
"Where's Ekstraad?" Stark asked, although he could have had no idea. K simply shook his head, and Stark got the picture. They sat in silence all the way back to base.

He'd watched the whole thing from his rooftop palace, the place he was safe from anyone and everyone. It had been great fun, watching as his plan came off absolutely perfectly. He wasn't even unhappy that the gas hadn't finished Ekstraad off first, it was only ever intended to blur his judgement so he didn't notice Dooku disappear. No, the real prize had been the bomb. It had all been so easy. It hadn't even been that difficult getting into Ekstraad's office to plant the holo-droid Dooku was going to appear on. From then, he just had to sit back and watch the fireworks. The protesters had helped the cause he supposed, but it was going to happen, riot or not. He was, simply, just too good at his job. He took one final look over the chaos he had created, then Captain Volkov retreated back into his safe house, ready to hit the Republic where it hurt. They wouldn't even see it coming.

"I trust it is done, Dooku" Said The Emperor, staring out of the giant panoramic windows onboard the Star Destroyer, looking into empty space.  
"It has been done my lord."  
"Ekstraad is dead?"  
"Yes my lord. The Senate building is in ruins, and the Republic is in chaos. We have won."  
"Patience, Dooku, patience. Now the Republic will have to rebuild, and find a new leader. This situation makes them weak! Mobilise the troops, now is when we strike. The Republic is weak and we can finish them off. Stage 5 of the invasion is now in play, soon the Republic will be worshiping my every word, and I will be the ruler of the Galaxy!"


	6. Homecoming

_Homecoming_

The desert was still. A low, peaceful wind blew gently over the scenery, kicking up any loose dust in its path, clouding what was otherwise a perfectly clear night sky. It was almost idyllic. The whole area was quiet, still, except for one person standing in the middle of the desert, looking out towards the horizon. He took once glance either side of him, and started to walk. He walked and walked until eventually he came across a bunker, then he stopped. He waited.  
"Tell me what I'm looking at here K" The person said, "This place gives me the creeps."  
"Well," K replied, "This is it. This is the target. There should be 2 different patrols that pass by your point at different times. There's a short window for you to take down each group without alerting the others." K stopped, took a pause, and then added "E? Be careful. I don't want a repeat of Coruscant."  
E laughed at K's comment, then set to work. The bunker was protected, but the aim was to merely destroy it, and everything inside. 'There isn't anything that can't be solved with enough explosives' E thought as he got to work setting the remote triggered incinerators to the outer shell.  
"OK, first patrol should be heading your way right now" K chimed, adjusting his position on top of a cliff, looking directly onto the compound below. It was a perfect setup. E, meanwhile, was busy adjusting himself, getting ready to ambush the oncoming patrol.  
"Steady, steady" E whispered to himself, then swung out his arm just as the first droid passed by. The stick of explosives he was holding smashed the breast plate of the stunned droid, who could only stand there as it's electrics poured out of its chest. Another droid, alerted, raised it's rifle, but E managed to dive out of the way just before it opened fire, hitting a nearby oil drum. The whole container went up with a loud bang, illuminated the pitch black sky above. The first explosion rocked the bunker, but it soon settled.

Then it exploded.

The force blew E off his feet, spiralling him through the air until he came to a hard landing beside a rotting tree. He lay there for a second, trying to gather his thoughts, but was soon hauled to his feet. He stared at it for a few seconds. He had no idea what it was, but it didn't look like anything he had seen before. The his vision snapped back to reality; It was a droid. It was an assassin droid. Tall, silver, staring at him with pure hatred in its luminous red eyes. He instantly went for his gun, but the droid reacted faster and kicked him hard in the side, snapping the holster off his belt and sending E face first into the burning dirt. He tried to get back up, but a searing pain suddenly ripped down his left cheek. He went to put his hand to it, to try and see what damage had been done, but then another scything jolt pulsated through him, paralysing him. He couldn't even find the energy to scream in his intense agony as the blood started to pour from the wound in his side. The assassin stood over him, ready to finish him off, blade held high into the air….  
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.  
3 white hot flashes zipped through the air, punching straight through the assassin's body armour and sending him flying into the burning wreckage of the bunker. E managed to look up, and saw K perched on the edge of the cliff, sniper rifle in hand. Somehow, this gave E the energy to get up, go for the droid; He picked up his gun, strode through the burning embers and found the droid, laying on the floor. This time it was E's turn to haul the droid to its feet, pushing him against the wall.  
"This…. Is….. for everything" E panted then put the gun to the droid's head. The droid just looked at him, emotionless, like it was almost happy to die, to prove how insignificant E's actions would be. E growled and forced the gun into the droid's chest, firing bolt after bolt of pure energy into its core. The droid screeched a high pitched scream as it started to burn from the inside out. Flames engulfed its entire inner casings, but it was still alive, still screeching. Once E had finally had enough, he calmly walked over to the droid and snapped its neck into two, burnt wiring now hanging from the droid's mangled armour. It collapsed to the floor, dead. Suddenly, E felt a wave of dizziness pass over him and he too collapsed onto the rubble. As he sat there in a disoriented daze, the rubble around him started the disappear, then the desert started to disintegrate; The sky, which was a deep black, started to lighten, eventually becoming a bright blue. Everything was slipping away. Gone.

"Your simulator is horrific K, I don't know why I ever signed up to do this" E managed to get out once he found the strength to get up. His whole body ached and he felt completely out of energy, but at least he hadn't actually been stabbed.  
"Well," Said K, who looked like he had enjoyed E's battle, "I did warn you that the simulator was ultra-realistic. Not my fault you got stabbed by a droid."  
"Those assassin droids don't even exist in real life! They're a myth!"  
"Well I wanted to test you against the best, so I created them myself." K then gave out a small laugh, "So much for doing this quietly eh?"  
E just shook his head in comic dismay, unable to find the words to counteract K. "I still have no idea how you managed to build that. I mean, that desert was proper realistic, I actually felt like I was on a planet's surface."  
"We did need something to pass the time with until we got to Dantooine though, so I thought why not test out the simulator, keep us sharp for combat."  
"How far are we from Dantooine?" E asked, changing the subject.  
"About 3 hours, enough time to get all out gear ready for the big homecoming."  
"Homecoming? Ha!" Snorted E, "It's going to be a great homecoming when nobody knows that we're coming back."  
"Yes, OK, I'll admit that's my fault that I haven't told anyone. We can tell them now if you want?"  
"Yeah sure, let's see how many of them actually show up." E walked over to the communications system. With it being designed entirely by K, E had pretty much no idea what most of it did. What he could work, however, was the radio. "We have a message." E said, a rather annoyed tone in his voice. K picked up on it without even having to look at him.  
"Who is it?" He enquired, although he suspected it wouldn't be anyone good. He was right. It was Stark. "What does Stark want with us this time? Didn't he get enough pleasure from uprooting our Naboo holiday?"  
"It'll be work though, won't it. It has to be if it's Stark."  
E reluctantly pressed playback. A loud voice blasted over the radio, but soon quietened down, revealing Stark's voice to them;  
"E, K, I know that when you eventually listen to this it may already be too late, but I have to try. We thought the Empire were taking a long time to co-ordinate an attack, but they weren't. They were deceiving us. They've been using a stealth attack technique called Prism, and it's the reason why we've had no idea about this….. I would tell you more but I need to warn you. 3 planets have fallen to this technique and Dantooine was one of them. Dantooine is under the control of the Empire. You cannot go there, you must stay away. If you go Dantooine you'll be walking into a death-trap. I just hope it isn't already too late. Space Brigadier Stark, over and out."  
"Well then" Said E, "So much for the big homecoming."

They spent the next hour debating what they should do. They knew that they would have to radio back Stark, but they knew what he would tell them. The question was whether they chose to follow that instruction or not:  
"I'm telling you" Said E, "We have to go down there. We have to go down there and save our planet."  
"We don't know what we're facing!" Responded K, who was taking a much more conservative approach. "We have no idea what this Prism system is like, we have no idea how many Imperial units are down there, and we have no idea what we'd have to do to take the planet back. Face it E, there's just two of us, and regardless of what heroics we've pulled off so far, we cannot just take a planet back by ourselves."  
"We have to something. Our family, our friends, everyone we grew up with are down there. We have to save them. We have to do something."  
"I know" Said K, resigned. He knew what E meant, but logic was telling him this was a bad idea. He mulled the prospect of another fight over in his head for what seemed like ages, but eventually he came to a decision. Logic could get fucked- this was his home planet they were dealing with.  
"Now we just need to radio Stark and find out what this Prism system is." Said E, and walked back over to the radio. "Command, this is Alpha 2-4. You there Commander?"  
There was a brief pause, a whirring of the custom designed system, but then Stark's highly recognisable voice came back over it.  
"Oh thank god you're alive. When you didn't return our radio call, we thought you had already breached the defence. We thought you had gone."  
"Nope, we're still here. We're about 2 hours away from entering Dantooine's orbit, give or take."  
"Please tell me you're not seriously considering going down there. It'd be suicide, you have to get out of there."  
"Brigadier," Said E, "With all due respect, that's our home planet down there. Our families, friends, people we care about are all down there. I'm damned if I don't go to try and save them."  
"It won't work. There's just two of you, that planet is going to be full of Imperials!"  
"How would you know, you haven't been down there! How do you even know about this 'Prism' System?"  
"Because I was one of the people that developed it. I know exactly how the system works because I helped create it. It works on a network of satellites that cloak the travel of an incoming Star Destroyer. You activate it far out, then as the Destroyer gets closer to orbit you tighten the net, so that to any passers by it looks as if everything is normal. Only people on the other side of the satellites can see what is really going on. When the Empire took Mustafar, we sent a scout in there, past the cloaking system. If Dantooine is even half as bad as it was down there then you won't stand a chance. Our guy was lucky to come away in one piece. I urge you to reconsider."  
"I'm sorry Brigadier, but this must be done. I'm not just going to sit here and watch as my planet gets turned into ruins."  
"I won't tell you again!" Stark snapped, having finally lost his patience. "You will not go down there and that is an order."  
E looked over to K, who shook his head. "I'm sorry." E said one final time, and cut the link.  
"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" Asked K, but E couldn't come out with a straight answer. All he could manage was "I hope so."

Dantooine loomed closer every second they spent preparing onboard their ship. Each and every time they looked out of the windows though, Dantooine didn't look any different. That cloaking device was good.  
"OK" Said E, having just moved a whole set of boxes out into the control room. "We have our guns, armour, food, water… rappel kit, jetpack… torch cutter… My god K, what haven't you packed for us?"  
"Well, I was originally hoping we could do some extreme sports whilst we were here. Not my fault we're going to have to use them for combat."  
"You surprise me every day K, you know that. Every day you come up with something completely unexpected."  
"You know what we should do?" Said K, a sudden brainwave flashing through his mind.  
"What?" Asked a perplexed E.  
"We should use the simulator again. Think about it- there's no doubt we're going to be facing combat as soon as we break through that defence system, so why not use what time we have left to run all the different scenarios. At least then we might vaguely know what to expect when we get through there."  
"Will we have enough time?"  
"I can slow down our thought processing speed so much that we can get through thousands of situations before we arrive. Will feel like years to us, but only about an hour or so in reality."  
"Do you have a solution to everything?"  
"Only when it matters my friend, only when it matters."

General Grievous sat still, his eyes fixed on the Dantooine sky as the darkness of night started to take over. It was fascinating, watching as the light faded, the light of Billions of people as his iron fist crushed their very hopes and dreams. Yes, the darkness made him feel powerful; It awoke his inner evil. As Dantooine descended into blackness he couldn't help but revel in its fascination. But that was enough of that- Now he had work to do.  
"Captain Sturn," Grievous hissed down the now open comms channel, "Prepare the ion cannon. Fire on my word."  
"Yes General" Came the reply, "Ion Cannon will be ready within the next few minutes. Waiting on your signal."  
Grievous took comfort in hearing those words. He looked back up at the darkening sky, the last time this planet may ever be able to see one.

Never before had E and K had to take so much in during such a small space of time, but that is exactly what had just happened. The simulator had taken them through every single possibility they could imagine, from the sublime to the ridiculous.  
"Oh my god do I feel awful after that" E complained as he exited the chamber. "I don't think I've died so many times in my life."  
"I hope you appreciate the irony of what you just said" K replied, who was in a much better state himself, having already had much more experience of how to handle the sim.  
"How long were we in there?"  
"About 2 hours give or take, we should be approaching Dantooine any minute."  
"Yeah" Said E, sliding over to the controls, "I see it. Beginning sub orbital descent and preparation checks."  
"Clear."  
"Initiating landing phase."  
The craft start to slow as it approached the planetary orbit, preparing for the entry. There was no sign of Prism, at least not yet."  
"E?" Asked K suddenly from the back of the craft, "How's jet pressure on your side?"  
"Fine, why?"  
"My dial is going haywire back here. It seems to still be working but I've got no way of telling."  
Suddenly there was a high pitched screech from outside the craft, the sheer power veering it off course.  
"Number 2 engine has blown!" E managed to get out, wrestling at the controls for control. "All of the controls are going mad."  
"We've got a static build up going on here. Discharging now!"  
There was a fizz as the electrical storm was ripped from the craft, but then all was still. And then they saw what lay before them. 3 Imperial Star Destroyers spread across the orbital skyline of Dantooine, peppering the ground below.  
"Holy…."  
"Incoming missile lock!"  
"On it!" E yelled and pushed the controls downwards with as much force as he could until the missiles zipped past.  
"They're coming back around" Warned K, and E reached out to his control panel. Smoke, flares, anything he could use to ditch the missiles were being used. The missiles weren't the only thing to worry about- laser fire from the Destroyers was tearing a hole right through their path, forcing E to weave in and out. Suddenly there was a bright flash as the missiles behind were obliterated by oncoming laser fire;  
"They're coming at us from both sides!"  
"I can't go much lower K for crying out loud. What do you expect me to do?" E punched at his flight navigator, trying desperately to find an alternate route, but another volley of lasers came straight his way. K dived on the controls, pulling the craft so sharply left that E lost his balance and fell over, but the cannon fire kept on coming. It was only a matter of time…  
"We need to get into the destroyer's blindspots" Said K, handing back the controls to E.  
"How do we do that?"  
"Go round the sides, it's the only way."  
E manoeuvred the craft around, but almost instantly found another problem- Tie Fighters. 3 of them had detached from the main group and were now in a standoff with E and K's ship.  
"Why these guys can't give us a break I will never understand" E muttered under his breath, then punched full throttle straight at the Tie Fighters, who did the same. It was a deadly game of space chicken, but right at the end the Fighters pulled up. For a second they disappeared from view, but then they reappeared right behind the spacecraft. And then they opened fire.

General Grievous watched as the chaos unfolded above him. He knew that they wouldn't be able to stay away, those two damned Republic Pilots- that's half the reason they chose to attack Dantooine, because they knew that the two of them would come running to protect their pathetic little planet. They had managed to escape him once but he was no fool, he knew what he had to do to capture them, to make them suffer for all of the trouble they had caused him above Kamino and on Corellia. He very much looked forward to capturing them and putting one in each of their foreheads himself. He had plans for these two. Revenge _would_ be his.

Ducking, diving, dodging. In and out, side to side. They just couldn't shake those damn TIE fighters from their sights. The shields were just about holding up, but they had nowhere to run.  
"We've got to think of something soon" Said E, working double time to outmanoeuvre the fighters, his hands a blur as he wrestled with the joystick controls, "They're getting closer by the minute"  
"I know that, what do you think I'm trying to do?" Said K, who was rummaging through one of the craft's holders. "Ah! I'm such an idiot, how could I have forgotten about this?"  
K pulled something from the holder. It was a long tube covered in wires, which itself contained a solid green tube.  
"What the hell is that?"  
"I call it the Thunderizer!"  
"What the hell is a Thunderizer?"  
"Watch and find out my friend." K said. He walked to the back of the craft, trying his best to keep his balance as E tried every counter measure possible to shake off the 3 TIE fighters. Eventually K reached a small port at the back of the craft where he connected the Thunderizer; There was a whir as it set up, then a laser targeting system flashed up onto the device. K aimed carefully at the centre fighter, then pulled back the lever and hit the trigger- The TIE fighter's windows instantly shattered into dust, the force of it spinning the fighter violently, throwing the pilot out. He slowly started to float off into the distance. That was one down at least.  
"The other two fighters are dispersing." Said K, "I can't get a shot on either of them."  
"What does that thing even do?"  
"It's a sonic pulse gun. Practically vaporises glass and throws whatever it is off target it's so powerful."  
"Is there anything on this craft that I actually understand?"  
"Probably not" Said K, "This is what happens when you allow me free reign to design something."  
Suddenly their radar beeped into life. Two red dots were heading for them, one on each side.  
"It's the TIE fighters again. They're coming in from both sides. It's a pincer movement."  
"It's suicide!"  
"Like they care."  
"I'm not sure I can get them both in time with the Thunderizer" Said K, but E had a much more determined look on his face.  
"I have an idea." He said, and sat back. The TIE fighters started to close the gap. Closer, closer, closer…..  
"Cut engines!" He yelled to himself, then slammed on the reverse thrust, which was nothing like cutting the engines at all. The craft lurched forward, leaving the gap infront of them where the fighters would have intercepted them- but the TIE fighters were too close to pull out now. They both tried to pull up, but it was no use; They collided in a plethora of fire and debris which exploded into the vast space beyond.  
"Dammit!" Said K, "They debris' punched a hole in our exterior, we're losing pressure."  
"Spacesuit time?" Enquired E, and K responded by throwing him his. They were kitted out in record time, then K went to patch up the damage.  
"Now" Said E, "What do we do about the Star Destroyers?"

Count Dooku walked up to join General Grievous- The Imperial Command post was in a vast clearing of expansive forest, built up like a giant domed fortress. For a few days work, it was an impressive achievement, one that Dooku was most proud of. He didn't need to ask the General what he was looking at, he knew well enough that he was following the two Imperial pilots as they circled in orbit. That was, after all, the entire reason they had decided to attack Dantooine- it had no value to them otherwise. Maybe they could use it as a base to create Stormtroopers, but that wasn't the aim. The aim was the pilots. They had no idea what was coming to them.  
"Is the Ion Cannon ready yet?" Dooku asked, without so much as needing to acknowledge Grievous' existence. They had developed such a good professional relationship, they knew when they were speaking to each other. Eye contact was a second thought. Dooku often wondered if this was what it was like to be the Emperor- he never looked at anyone.  
"Captain Sturn is currently charging the ion cannon as we speak. Once it is ready…"  
"We blow them out of the sky."  
"Not enough to kill them. That comes later, much later."  
"The Emperor will be pleased."  
"So will I my friend, so will I."

They were so close to being able to reach the planet's surface. There was just one thing left in their way, one giant obstacle they were going to have to navigate. The 3 Star Destroyers. They weren't going to be easy to move.  
"So, how do we go about this?" E asked. He had managed to move the craft to a corner of the battlefield where they were out of view. They were effectively in the Destroyers' blind spots.  
"I don't know. We don't have enough power to take them out by ourselves."  
"We could so do with backup right now." Said E, "What I wouldn't give for a few extra units."  
"Well that idea's out of the question. Communications are fried. Must have happened when we went through the Prism system. I reckon it's some sort of jammer."  
"Jammer?"  
"Yeah, must be scrambling the system. That or I put a faulty wire in there. I'm going to see if I can try and reverse the jammer by hacking the firewall of the Destroyer."  
"Be quick though, these TIE fighter patrols are getting me nervous. If one spots us we'll be like ducks in a barrel."  
K went to work, tapping furiously at his control screen stretched across the side of the craft. Fed up with having to use a portable the entire time, he had built a full scale one inside the craft. E looked in amazement as K messed with the controls, rather unable to comprehend how his friend could do all of that.  
"You finished yet? TIE fighters are getting closer…"  
"Almost. These guys have such a powerful firewall it's unreal. Every time I break down a layer I feel like two more are being set up to protect it."  
K carried on like that for the next 5 minutes, until eventually he broke through.  
"Woah…" He said, shocked at what he found behind the firewall. "E, we haven't just gained access to the jamming device. We've got control of the entire bloody Destroyers! All 3 of them!"  
"You mean we can do anything with them?"  
"Well, no. But we can clear a path so that we can land. We just have to think of a way to destroy all of them in one go."  
"We could accelerate them all into one another?"  
"Too risky that it would leave time for the TIE fighters to abandon ship." K took a pause, "I think I've got it. If I can engage all of the targeting systems on the Destroyers to target each other, I can use them all to blow themselves out of orbit."  
"You are crazy."  
K ignored that last comment, instead moving back over to his control screen. Carefully, intricately, he selected every last cannon he could onboard each of the 3 Destroyers, and made sure they were all targeting each other. Once every last cannon had been selected, primed and the co-ordinates had been set, K hovered his hand over the kill switch.  
"You ready for this E?"  
"This best work my friend, or who knows what we'll attempt next."  
"Funny how this scenario didn't come up in our simulator training."  
"Just press the damn button!" E yelled, and so K spun around and hit the kill switch with all his energy. There was a whirring noise from inside the control panel, then silence. Then there was a green light, and all hell broke loose.

General Grievous sat, staring opened mouthed at the sky. His fists were clenched tight, shaking in complete disbelief. This was not the gameplan. This was not what was supposed to happen. It was a complete mess, a complete and utter fiery mess. All 3 Destroyers had suddenly turned on each other, ripping holes through bridges and hulls as if they were soft butter. Engines failed, engulfed in the cataclysmic shockwave given out by failing reactor cores. Elements and ions and compounds fused together and ripped themselves apart in mere milliseconds, shattering what was left of the obliterated supports. Soon all 3 of them had collapsed into themselves, nothing more than floating piles of rubble. They were useless- but the Empire was not defenceless. No, the General still had one last powerplay left to lay onto the table. One that he hoped would signal the end of those pilots once and for all.

They had done it. E and K had done it. The plan had worked, the Imperial Star Destroyers were destroyed, and now they could finally fly down to the surface, set up a comms spot and radio for backup so that they could liberate their planet from the control of the Empire. They were going to be heroes. They hit accelerate, pushing on towards the thick planetary atmosphere than so shrouded the planet. There was an optimism between the two pilots; As they neared the surface, they truly believe they could. They could free Dantooine.

Except they couldn't. They couldn't do any of it. They wouldn't even get close.

It had all been too easy, getting past the defences. Even for people as skilled as E and K, it was never that easy. As they entered the atmosphere, burning bright orange in re-entry, it was K who saw it. A bright flash, gone as quick as he had seen it. He had seen it though, and he'd seen it somewhere else before. Kamino, he'd seen it above Kamino. He knew exactly what was coming their way. He ran over to E at the controls and dived on him, ripping him away and flattening him to the floor, but it was too late. The force of the ion cannon blast hit the craft like a tsunami, tearing it apart from the inside out yet causing it to implode with an impossible magnitude.

Sitting at his command post, General Grievous watched with great comfort as the burnt out shell of the craft spiralled out of control, burning up into ashes as it fell to the ground. 

He smiled inwardly. There couldn't have been any survivors. It was done.

He had won.


	7. Homecoming Pt 2

How do you survive being hit by an ion cannon?

You don't.

It's a good thing, then, that E and K _were_ still alive. As the howling wind whistled through the trees in the eerie night, E started to wake up, to regain consciousness. He coughed as he sat up, propped against a tree. The fall had taken away all of his energy, not to mention shaken him to the core. Ash fell from the sky like snow, the last reminder of the spacecraft that has so very nearly been the end of them. It was still imprinted in his mind, the vision of K practically flying towards the control panel, landing on the big red button. Then the entire floor gave way. He hadn't know what to think in that moment, having just fallen out of the bottom of a spacecraft- then the spacecraft exploded. K had saved their lives. 2000Km above the planet's surface and he'd decided to go bloody skydiving, and it had saved their lives. It was a good thing their spacesuits had parachutes built in, otherwise they would have burnt up on re-entry. It was a miracle they were even wearing them in the first place. It was just one miracle after another. E coughed again. It hurt to move, to do anything. It hurt to even sit up like he was. He had no idea where he was, or how long he'd been there. Worst of all though- he had absolutely no idea where K was.  
"I'm right here behind you, you moron" K said sarcastically. E hadn't realised he was talking out loud, and K had heard everything.  
"When did you show up?"  
"About the same time you did."  
"How long was I unconscious?"  
"About an hour. I'm surprised you managed to last the 3 we spent re-entering, you looked so shocked."  
"What did you expect? I'd literally just fallen through the floor of my now disintegrated spacecraft. I was hardly going to throw a party."  
"You're just lucky I recognised the flash of light from the ion cannon." K cocked his head to the side, "Hey E, look over there" He said, changing the subject, "That's the Imperial base. If we're going to do anything, this is where we're going to have to start."  
"Right now my body doesn't want to do anything" E complained in return.  
"We're going to have to move sooner or later."  
Suddenly there was a rustling from within the trees. E and K both looked over, but they couldn't see anything. Then, slowly, it emerged; A sillouette against the darkness of the night. And then he spoke:  
"I wouldn't go anywhere just yet if I were you."

E studied the man. He couldn't make out any facial features, but he was wearing a cloak, one that shielded him from view.  
"Who are you?" E commanded, but the man did not instantly respond- he took his time to think it over.  
"You don't know who I am, but I know a great deal about you. I've been following you since this war started. You two made quite a stir above Bespin. I'm not the only one to notice either-" He pointed to the Imperial compound- "They've been keeping an eye out on you too. General Grievous got to experience you first hand above Kamino, which has only strengthened their resolve to take you out of the equation."  
"How do you know about Kamino? There's no way you could have been onboard that ship with us."  
"I didn't have to be. Just because I wasn't there for all of it, doesn't mean that I don't know what happened. The Empire have now made you two their number one targets. They believe that if they take you out then they'll win the war."  
"How do you know so much about the Empire and what it believes?"  
The man sighed, but carried on speaking. "I work for an organisation known as HAWK. We work within the Empire to try and take down the Emperor. I guess you can call us inside men, and women."  
"OK then" Said K, "Answer me this: Why us?"  
"Because you're powerful. You two are so much more powerful than you could imagine and the Emperor knows that; He can sense it. I can sense it. They had their suspicions about you two before but now they're convinced you're the main reason this war is still going on. Even when they win, if you're involved the Empire never truly wins." The man brought his hand out of the shadows and up to his chest. There was a small device clasped in his hand. "This is what's known as a 'Force Meter'- it measures how greatly people can manipulate the power of the force. The Jedi developed it as one of the ways to test hopeful Jedi Padawans in training. Most normal life forms will only create a small spike on the readout. For Jedi and Sith the spike is much larger. You two were off the charts."  
"But neither of us are Jedi. We can't use the force or wield a lightsaber or anything like that."  
"And that's what makes you such a threat to the Empire. The fact you aren't Jedi means that they can't predict what you're going to do next. You're so powerful that you manipulate the force without even realising it. It's no coincidence that you always find yourself in the middle of trouble; Trouble gets drawn to you like a magnet. Why do you think The Empire attacked Dantooine? They have no use for it. It's nowhere near their region of control, and surrounded by so many Republic controlled planets that they'd soon be steamrollered if they tried to do anything using the planet. No, they attacked it because they knew that you would be here. They used it to lure you out so that they could kill you off."  
"But we were coming to Dantooine anyway, before we knew it had been invaded" Said E, confused.  
"Like I said" The man replied, "You manipulate the force in ways nobody can comprehend."  
"So what do we do now?"  
"You can still save your planet. You can still get out of this alive. But, for any of this to happen, you need to do exactly as I say."

 _The first thing you're going to have to do is break into the compound. It was only set up as a temporary base, so it has quite a few weak points. There should be a perimeter wall about 500 metres east of here- you need to break through the wall to get into the compound. After you break through you'll find yourself above an underground corridor, which you'll enter through a ventilation grate. There should be two guards patrolling the corridor you'll enter. You need to take them out without them sounding the alarm. Once they're out of the equation, proceed to the far end of the corridor, where you'll find a door. In there is the control room. This is where we attack.  
_ "You ready for this?" K asked as they approached the perimeter fence. It was all very surreal, taking orders from someone they didn't know. The hadn't even seen his face.  
"As ready as I'll ever be I guess" E replied, before adding "My body is going to hate me for this you know. I feel stiffer than a cast iron rod."  
"That's quite a weird analogy to use."  
"Well, it's not like I've had time to practise." E insisted, then pulled out a torch cutter from his backpack. Whoever the person was giving the orders, he'd given them plenty of equipment. The torch cutter was just the start.  
"Burn away" K said, pulling out his CZR X-4 to cover them. It was the only thing he had on him when their spacecraft was destroyed, and now it was going to come in useful. Good thing too; He didn't have 5,000,000 credits to replace it.  
The torch cutter made light work of the weak exterior wall, just as they had hoped. Now they just had to hope they hadn't alerted either of the patrolling guards.

They hadn't.

The space they were enclosed in was narrow, but gave them enough of a view to be able to see the entirety of the corridor. Sure enough, two Imperial guards were walking up and down, scouting the area. E and K knew what they were going to do; As soon as one of the guards passed underneath them, E dropped the ventilation grate and jumped down, landing on the guard. Before he had time to react, E picked him up and hit him across the face with the butt of his blaster, knocking him cold. Suddenly, alerted by the noise, the other guard turned round to face E. He looked him straight in the eye, then ran for the alarm. E ran after him, but then the guard suddenly stopped and collapsed forward, a hole seared through his neck from the scathing energy of K's CZR X-4.  
"It's nice to see you've got my back" E said, looking back up to the ventilation shaft K had hung himself off of to get the shot away.  
"Well, you weren't going to catch him, and I certainly wasn't going to let him get to that alarm."  
E acknowledged K with a nod, and proceeded to walk towards the end of the corridor. The approach was calm enough, but neither pilot knew what to expect behind the door….

 _The Control Room is going to be the biggest challenge in the compound. I don't know how many people will be behind those doors but it'll be a lot, and there's no way you can go about this quietly either. You have to destroy the centre console in the middle of the control room. I don't care how you do it, but once that is destroyed all communications and all power is lost from the compound. Then we can take the rest of it down.  
_ "We go in as planned" E said as they approached the door. It was a large cargo-esque type door, but it was unlocked, which was always a good start. K moved to the opening side of the door, and primed a thermal detonator. E grabbed onto the door handle.  
"On my go" Said K, and he activated the detonator, it's red glow illuminating the entire corridor. "3….. 2… 1… GO" K shouted and E hauled open the door. As soon as the detonator had been thrown in there was a large bang and debris flew out of the room. As soon as the noise died down they burst into the room guns blazing, firing at anything and everything they saw. K dived behind a stray chair, battering away a couple of droids that were in close proximity. The entire place was crawling with droids; Regular battle droids, Super battle droids- you name it, it was there. K was starting to get pinned down in his cover, a mass of droids flooding in through the outer blast doors. E was having trouble finding any sort of cover at all.  
"E, we've still got to destroy that centre console" K shouted as he put 2 blaster bolts through a Super battle droid's face.  
"I know, I'm still working on it." E replied, equally as pre-occupied by a group of battle droids who had cornered him. He blasted his way through them, but as soon as he was out, he looked towards the blast doors. "K… MagnaGuards coming our way!"  
"You have to be kidding me?"  
"No, I'm afraid not." E said, retreating back to the inner door. K decided to peek over his chair and take a look. There were 3 of them, and they were coming his way. He got up and went to follow E back to the door, but suddenly he felt something hard kick him in the back, forcing him to the floor. He tried to get up but a hard metal foot slammed into the side of his head, knocking him back to the ground.  
"Oh you're so going to pay for that" K hissed and leaped off the floor. He ran head first with all his strength straight into the Super, ramming it into the wall. It tried to fight back, but K grabbed it's gun arm and twisted hard, until finally it snapped clean off. "I hope you like a taste of your own medicine" K said as he pointed the arm straight at the stunned droid and pulled the trigger, destroying what was left.  
"Bloody hell K" E shouted from the door, where he was covering fire on the MagnaGuards, "I don't think I've ever seen you this angry."  
"This is just the beginning" He replied, and pointed the Super Battle Droid arm at the centre console. With a succession of quick flashes 3 rockets flew from their holdings and spiralled straight into their target, sending the entire console up in a fiery blaze.

Then all of the lights went dark.

E and K stood still, looking out for the danger that surrounded them. The place may have fallen into darkness, but there was still light-the centre console, or what was left of it, was alit in orange flames, and in the distance the eerie purple glow of the MagnaGuard staffs shone through.  
"I think we should get out of here" E said, to which K agreed;  
"I think you might be right."  
E picked up the rucksack full of equipment, and then they bolted it down the corridor.

 _You need to be prepared for when you destroy the command room. They're going to come at you in extortionate numbers, and you need to be ready for that.  
"Where do we go?"  
Back the way you came, down the corridor. This time, however, you won't be able to get back overground through the ventilation grate, so you'll have to go right to the end where you'll find a junction. One corridor goes left, one goes right. You need to go left. There isn't much there other than a small storage room, but that storage room is going to be your only way back to ground floor. Once on ground level, activate the beacon; I'll come and get you. Do not activate it until you get to ground floor, I can't help you whilst you're still underground._

The corridor certainly seemed a lot longer now they had to run the entire length of it. The junction was in sight, but the MagnaGuards behind were closing fast.  
"I can't hold them off too much longer" K shouted as he discharged a continuous stream of blaster bolts in the direction of the MagnaGuards. It may not have been doing much damage, but it was slowing them down. Unfortunately it was slowing him down too.  
"We're almost at the junction" Said E, "Just keep up the cover fire"  
"I'm not sure I want to stop" K countered as he sped up his back peddling. Eventually they reached the T-Junction, and E pulled K round with him as they headed towards the storage room. Now they were clear of the control room, everything was pitch black. They managed to feel their way into the storage room, and E locked the door.  
"We should be safe in here for a few seconds" K panted, trying to catch his breath. "Then we really need to head up the ladder."  
"I'm really too old for this" E replied, laying himself down on the floor.  
"E, you're 22, not 122."  
"I certainly feel 122. I told you my body wasn't going to forgive me for being dragged into combat after 3 hours of breaking through the atmosphere of this hell hole."  
"This hell hole is our home planet" K casually reminded E, who gave a sarcastic smirk in return.  
"Right now I'm rather wishing it wasn't"  
"I'll tell you one thing though- this place was not built in just 3 days. The fact they've got an entire underground system, one to this detail, suggests they've been here a while. This was not just to lure us out."  
"The ground floor stuff seems pretty temporary though, don't you think?"  
"I reckon it's a front, one to give the impression that this is temporary. They want to throw us off, make it look easy."  
"But when we were given our instructions, silhouette man knew that the underground network was here….."  
"Which means that our mysterious friend knew very well that this place was not built in just 3 days."  
Suddenly there was an almighty crash as something piled into the storage room door, a noise so loud in the comparative silence E and K had been speaking in that both pilots almost jumped through the ceiling in shock. When they heard the distinctive metallic twirl of the MagnaGuard staffs, they had no doubt they'd been found.  
"We've got to get moving!" K shouted, leaping onto the ladder and scaling it in a matter of seconds, reaching the top with ease. E, too, got up, but the rucksack on his back was making it harder for him to scale the ladder. He was about half way up when there was another smash as the door-side window exploded, and two Super Battle Droid rockets burst into the room, hitting the ladder at it's hinges and blowing it off the wall. E landed with a thud.  
"Go!" He yelled at K, who was standing in shock at the top, "Go now! I'll meet you at the top." K ran off into the distance; Once he was out of sight, E turned back to the door which was gradually being torn apart piece by piece. He brought his gun up from his side, locked and loaded.  
"Bring it on metal-heads!" He shouted at the door, "I'll take you all on!"

K ran. He ran as fast as he could to avoid even having to think about what was going to happen to E down in the store room. All he could do now was escape himself, then try and get help and go back. He was on the ground floor now, which meant that as soon as he activated the beacon mystery man could come and save him. He reached for his pocket, then he realised it- E had the rucksack. E had the beacon. He couldn't summon any help. Who was he kidding, there wasn't going to be any help anyway. There never was going to be any help, not since the moment they agreed to try and save their planet from the Imperial forces. Just the two of them, liberating an entire planet. It was never going to work, yet they still did it. Enough- he had to get himself out of this attitude. He reached back into his pocket; He may not have a beacon, but he might have something of use. 2 coins, his now disintegrated spacecraft's ignition keys, a pen, his blaster, and a radio. A radio. He had a radio. He could call for help.  
"Anyone!" He shouted down the radio, still running, "Is there anyone there?! Please respond."  
There was a pause down the other end, one that make K believe that there wasn't anyone there, but then someone spoke. K recognised her voice almost instantly.  
"Amy?! How the hell did _you_ get this radio channel?"  
"It's nice to hear from you too Kissel."  
"Very funny. Now, why does my super annoying ex-girlfriend have access to my radio channel? You tapped into it didn't you?!"  
"Yes, as much as we both annoy each other, I do like to keep up with what you're doing, like the deranged lunatic you once called me."  
"Now is really not the time to start talking about our previous relationship. If you hadn't realised from the tone of my voice, I'm currently being chased down by Imperial forces that want to kill me!"  
"You always seem to find a way of drawing trouble to yourself, don't you?"  
"Believe me, you're not the first person to tell me that today."  
"It's nice to see you still have the personality of a wooden pole too, Kissel."  
"What is it with people making bad analogies today? First E and now you."  
"Oh yes, how is your friend?"  
"AMY! I really don't have time for this" K shouted down the radio. Suddenly there was a burst of gunfire down below which drew away K's attention. E was still down there. Amy came back over the radio, but K didn't answer. He just kept running.

It was empty. As the MagnaGuards searched the storeroom, it was apparent to them that it was empty. The pilot was nowhere to be seen. They continued to search every corner of the room, before one finally gave up and walked back out to the corridor to take a look. It walked out of the door, scanning every area. It still couldn't find him. One look to the left, one look to the right- nothing.

Then it hit them.

With the speed of a missile and the force of a god E swung down from his ceiling perch and hit the MagnaGuard do hard in the back that his foot went straight through the armour and they both came crashing down to the floor. Sensing an opportunity, E grabbed the staff from the floor and swiped it across the stunned MagnaGuard, virtually splitting it in half. It groaned and tried to get up, but it was finished; The very robotics keeping it moving trailing from its ruined body. That left 2. They went on the offensive, forcing E back. He had no idea how to use a MagnaGuard staff, but somehow it was coming naturally to him, blocking and deflecting the relentless attacks coming his way. They were pinning him, forcing him towards the wall where he couldn't manoeuvre. Blow after blow, strike after strike, he was slowly losing his strength to keep the MagnaGuards at bay. He'd managed to take one of them down, a lucky swing which had decapitated it, shutting it down instantly. Suddenly a strike came low to his right, but he couldn't react in time and the staff struck him in his leg, sending him to the floor, screaming in pain. The MagnaGuard brought his staff down again but E just managed to roll out of the way in time, the staff hitting the floor inches from his head. He got up. He had to move. The MagnaGuard took another swing which flashed above E's head and into the wall where it stuck fast. This was his opportunity. This was when he had to run.

K had reached the end of the road. He was finally outside, surrounded by long, green grass, up to his knees. The noise still echoed in his head, the blaster rifles discharging in the basement below him. He tried not to think about E, but no matter what he did, he couldn't stop. He was running on empty. Drained off all energy, he stumbled out into the grass, swaying under the breeze of the night sky. His vision was blurry, but he could swear that there were droids everywhere; He saw them out of the corner of his eye at every turn, but when he looked back they weren't there. They simply weren't there. He took another step, but his legs would no longer move. He was paralyzed by fear. And then he saw them again, but this time he knew they were real. They stood over him, expressionless and emotionless. It was over.

E had reached the junction. He knew that turning right would take him back to the control room, so he headed straight ahead, into the unknown. He didn't know how far away the MagnaGuard was, but he was aware of the faint glow of the staff behind him as he ran. The corridor seemed to go on forever, and E was running out of energy, his legs moving on pure adrenaline. A light, glowing dimly at the end of the corridor, suddenly caught E's attention- it meant that there was something there. He ran too it in excitement, in anticipation. It was a door switch. He hit it, and watched as the giant blast doors opened up. As soon as they were open he stepped into the room.

What he saw made his jaw drop.

It wasn't just a temporary command post, this was a full blown Forward Operations Centre, and in its centre stood a Class 1 Imperial Star Destroyer. The hangar was expansive, not just taking up a large width, but it was at least 3 times as tall as the rest of the basement. It should have been visible above ground, yet they hadn't even noticed it. The place was packed with Imperial officers, Stormtroopers and battle droids, all feverishly working to get the Star Destroyer into a battle worthy condition. E was in awe, so much so that he had forgotten all about the chasing MagnaGuard. It silently walked up behind E, bringing its staff up in the air….. and then it struck down. E screamed as the staff cut a deep line across his back, burning through his skin. Enraged, he turned around and ripped the staff out of the MagnaGaurd's hands, and rammed it straight through its chest, pinning it to the wall. The MagnaGuard squirmed, overloaded by energy from the staff, until it finally became still, burnt out. E pulled the staff back from the wall, and turned around, plotting his next move, but in doing so accidentally walked into someone. It was General Grievous.  
"YOU!" The General screeched in shock at seeing E alive. E just looked at him, stunned, until Grievous hissed again and kicked E in the stomach, sending him back flipping across the platform. E got up, but Grievous was already storming over to him, lightsabers in hand. Instinctively E reached for his blaster, and opened fire on the ever nearing General, who easily batted away the oncoming bolts. E retreated, but kept up the hopeless assault; Grievous took stride after stride and as soon as he was within touching distance of E he hit out with a vicious strike, taking E's gun hand clean off. He let out a smile at this small victory, then gave E a backhand square to the face, sending him flying straight over the railings and onto the hangar floor below.  
"Leave him!" Grievous cried out to the now alerted Imperials, "This one I want to take care of… Personally."

They all stood and watched as E and K were paraded through the compound. Imperial officers, Stormtroopers- even the emotionless battle droids and MagnaGuards were there, their mechanical heads pivoting to follow the two pilots' every move. For General Grievous, this was his finest hour. Ever since E and K had defeated him above Kamino and left him to rot on an asteroid heading for nowhere, he had sworn to himself he would get revenge. He had come close on Corellia to fulfilling that promise, but, despite leaving Corellia in a critical state, he hadn't finished them off. Now he had them trapped, and he certainly wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. It was going to be slow, painful, but none the less effective. It was going to be his finest moment; Just the thought of it empowered him, made him feel 100 times as strong as any Jedi or Sith Lord. As soon as they reached the assembly area, Grievous took the two pilots and tied them to a set of solid steel poles, tightly. Then he sat down in front of them and stared, stared continuously into their eyes. Oh yes, he was going to have fun with them.

"So, I guess this is it then" K said to E, shaking in his bindings. They'd waited until everyone bar General Grievous had left, so that they could speak in their own solitude.  
"It looks that way" E replied, staring into space. "I guess mystery man was right; Danger really does seem to follow us wherever we go. Even when we try and go on holiday, we find an entire Imperial base right in our path."  
"I wonder if everything else he said was true as well. Everything about the force, the fact we registered off the chart. Surely that can't be right?"  
"Well I certainly don't feel like I have any kind of powers at the moment" E concurred, his face turning whiter by the second. "It's a miracle I haven't passed out yet."  
"They really should let you get your injuries checked out" K said, but E laughed at the suggestion.  
"Seriously? They're going to kill us soon anyway, you really think General Grievous cares that I'm missing my freaking hand? He's probably enjoying this."  
"Point taken."  
"Bloody hurts though. I feel like someone has given me a shower at 4000 degrees Kelvin, and them driven a lawnmower over my back"  
"That's weird analogy number 3 tonight" K whispered under his breath.  
"Huh?"  
"Nothing….. Nothing. Let's just try and focus on trying to make our last few minutes count, eh?"  
"It's a shame your simulator didn't give us this scenario to practise. Would have come in handy about now."  
"Well," Said K, "I didn't really think we'd get this far."  
"It's nice of you to tell me that now, fills me with confidence. I should have listened to Commander Stark and turned the bloody ship around and headed back to Coruscant."  
"Or Naboo."  
"Either one would have done nicely. Much better than this."  
"Like I said, let's try and focus on what's left of our life, not what might have been."  
"You mean like that ship?" E said, looking up to the sky. K followed suit, and looked on in suspense as the landing craft touched down next to them. Neither pilot had any idea what was going on, but each of them dreaded what it could be. The craft shut off its engines, lowered the gantry, and then, slowly, a shadowy figure started to emerge.

The Emperor had arrived.

"My Lord" Grievous said, startled at the Emperor's arrival. "I was not expecting you here."  
"You may rise General" the Emperor said, then walked straight past him and towards E and K. "I knew you were going to be here." He said to the two pilots. "I could sense your presence before you even left Coruscant. I knew I would lure you here." He took a pause to catch his breath, but then the Emperor continued; "You two have caused me a great deal of trouble. I would have won this war already had it not been for you two getting in my way. I would already rule this galaxy."  
E gulped hard at The Emperor's words; K listened in absolute silence.  
"I could just kill you here, right now. I could finish you off easily, but there is something about you two, a presence in the force. I can sense it- your fear, your hatred. You long for revenge, yet you're afraid of what revenge may end with. You have power, but you don't know how to use it. I know everything about the force, even the dark arts of the Sith. With my training, you could become the two most powerful people in the galaxy. I've been watching you, ever since you stopped the takeover of Kamino. I've even been testing you." The Emperor sensed a change in expression when he said that, one that he had more than expected.  
"I wanted to test your abilities, to see how powerful you really were. Corellia, The Senate revolt- they were all tests of your ability. Join me!" The Emperor cried, "And together, we could rule the galaxy. You would be my two finest soldiers, bringing peace and tranquillity to the many star systems currently being corrupted by the politics of the Republic. Join me. Join the Empire!"  
"MY LORD!" General Grievous exclaimed, striding over to where the Emperor stood. "You cannot let them live! This Republic scum has destroyed countless numbers of Imperial machinery. They are the reason Jedi still live! They must be stopped now."  
"Remember your place General" Palpatine snapped. "Remember what I did for you. If it wasn't for me, you would have died on Kalee. If it wasn't for me, you would have been left drifting through space for eternity. Do not question my authority."  
"Yes my lord" Grievous eventually said and sank back into the shadows, visibly annoyed at the Emperor's decision.  
"Well," Said The Emperor, "I'm waiting for your decision."  
Time passed as neither pilot said anything, but then K suddenly lifted his head, and said one striking word.  
"No."  
"No?" Questioned the Emperor.  
"I will not join your Empire, and I will not join the Sith. I've seen firsthand what you've done to this galaxy, what you've done with peace and tranquillity. You killed my friends, and I will never join an army associated with death and destruction."  
"I won't either!" Said E suddenly. "You did this to me" He said, indicating his handless arm, "K is right anyway. I would rather die than join the dark side of the force. I am not going to join your Empire." He turned to face K, and forced a smile.  
"Brothers in arms"  
"Until the end of the universe."  
They both gave a silent nod and stamped the floor in salute, then turned back towards the Emperor.  
"I have to say, I'm disappointed with your decision" The Emperor said, "I thought you would be wise, but instead you've been foolish."  
The Emperor stepped forward to face them, force lightning sparking from his fingertips.  
"This decision leaves me with no choice. I'm afraid, my friends, this is the end for you." The Emperor to a deep breath, then pointed his fingers in the direction of E and K.

"You. Will. DIE!"

 _ **END OF ACT I**_


End file.
